


If I Had My Time Again

by 230W49thSt



Series: I wanted you more than I wanted superpowers [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Author Cried A Lot While Writing, Author Loves Lance, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Childhood Friends, Coming Out, Coming To Terms With Being Queer, Content Notes Before Every Chapter, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Happy Ending, I have 99 problems and Adam not having a proper canon last name are all of them, Inspired by Life Is Strange, M/M, Slow Burn, Superpowers, Temporary Character Death, The Ability To Reverse Time, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-02 23:46:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 58,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16314986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/230W49thSt/pseuds/230W49thSt
Summary: After having lived in Cuba for six years, Lance moves back to his childhood hometown in Oregon to attend the local college as a resident student. On one quite faithful day he runs into his former childhood friend Keith - and happens to save his life with a new power he possesses. Lance doesn't know what confuses him more: that he is able to reverse time or that the re-connection with his former best friend makes him aware of feelings that quite differ from the friendship they used to have.Inspired by Life Is Strange (but you don't have to know anything about it to read it).





	1. Prologue or World Burn

**Author's Note:**

> hello lovely people,  
> this fic is inspired by the game Life Is Strange but you don't have to know anything about it. I just used the main idea, some minor ideas and of course the location Arcadia Bay, Oregon. It's not a retelling.  
> I put content notes at the beginning of every chapter if I felt it to be necessary, especially details to violence/temporary deaths and the mentioning of food. If you want to tag me more or if I screwed something up, please let me know in the comments or on Tumblr (worstmissionever).
> 
> first content note before you begin reading: This _whole_ story focuses a lot on Lance's thoughts when it comes to him realizing that he's bi and how he feels about it. It's not easy for him and he denies it for some time. If you're having a rough time yourself, this _might_ be hard to read sometimes. This story is fictional and spans the time of one month. Please remember that everyone has their own tempo. It can take years to come to terms with the things you feel and that's okay, too.

###  **Prologue or World Burn**

“No, Keith, I can’t--” Lance shouted against the noise of the storm, holding the tiny red toy lion Keith had just given him back close to his chest.

They were standing on top of the cliff by the lighthouse, the merciless Pacific Ocean some hundred feet beneath them. High waves crashed against the rocks below. The beach and its parking lot were already flooded. The rising water was on its way up the streets into Arcadia Bay. Destruction was everywhere. Cars and debris from houses blocked the streets, illuminated by several fires caused by loose and cut power cables. The world was gray as if all colors had been drained from existence.

And a huge tornado less than a mile offshore was about to make landfall any minute.

“I’m already living on borrowed time,” Keith tried to say firmly but his shaking voice was betraying him. “Extra time you have given me. Look at what’s happening in Arcadia Bay. Just because you saved me. Those people don’t deserve to die. Think of Pidge and Hunk. Shiro and Adam.” With determination in his eyes, he looked at Lance. “It’s time to let go of this burden. Let me go. Once and for all.”

Lance shook his head. The wind drowned out most of their conversation.  
When a part of the cliff broke away, they stumbled closer to the lighthouse.  
The earth shook.   
Soon the rest of the cliff would collapse into the ocean - and take them with it.  
And the tornado got closer any second.

Keith put his forehead against Lance’s and tried to reason with him.

“But I can’t make this decision,” Lance whispered.

“You won’t have to. I am with you,” Keith said. Then he carefully took his hands. “Lance. It’s time.”

**Everything went white.**


	2. He Used To Be Mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, lance listens to taylor swift.

###  **He Used To Be Mine**

**5 weeks earlier.**   
**September 1st.**

Lance gave his mirror reflection a quick once-over. The summer was over and he was 19 years old now. He squinted his eyes to see if there was a visible difference to what he’d looked like last year. Nope. Same face, same short brown hair, same blue eyes. But there was only so much a mirror could show. Did he feel any different? He couldn’t tell. Did it matter? He couldn't tell either.

The only thing Lance knew for sure was that there was a huge universe - or galaxy - out there and he was determined to explore everything. And maybe, if he was really lucky, he would even find another universe. Galaxy. Whatever.

One to collide with.

~~

“Lance! Hurry up! You won’t get prettier by staring at your reflection!” someone shouted in front of his door. Lance grinned. He would recognize that upset voice everywhere. Quickly he grabbed his backpack and headed outside.

“I didn’t stare,” he said fake-appalled, “I admired my--”

He couldn’t finish the sentence because Pidge flung themselves around his neck.

“Hey Lance,” they said happily.

As much as he missed his family back in Cuba, it was good to be back at Blackwell Academy for his second college year.

“Group hug!” someone cheered and Pidge and Lance were embraced by a strong pair of arms. “Oh guys, I missed you so much," Hunk said.

“We missed you too, big guy,” Lance chuckled.

“Don’t you have class?” They broke their hug and turned around.

"Hi Shiro,” Pidge greeted the college security guard in his middle twenties. “How was your summer?”

With his black uniform and his black and white hair he looked like the most badass person ever, they all had agreed, but soon they had learned he was probably the nicest person on campus – except whenever a situation required his authority. No one messed with Shiro even though he was only a couple of years older than them.

“Pleasantly quiet without you troublemakers singing karaoke in the middle of the night,” he replied with a smile.

“Ah come on,” Lance said and winked, “admit it, you missed us!”

Shiro had covered more than once for the three of them sneaking out after curfew. And on the day Pidge and Hunk had skipped class to stay with Lance having a bad day of homesickness, Shiro had been the one who had taken delivery of their ordered food and sneaked it to their rooms.

“Well, I most certainly didn’t miss your rendition of Bad Romance.”

“You haven’t even heard the Spanish version yet!”

Shiro laughed. With a nod he pointed at the exit of the dormitory. “Don’t be late.”

“Dude, what happened to your arm?”

Hunk and Pidge froze and stared at Lance. Pidge gave him a little kick at his shin that he simply brushed off.

“Well, this is awkward,” Hunk stated.

“No, it’s fine,” Shiro said without missing a beat. “It’s not exactly subtle.”

“Actually he meant Lance,” Pidge added quietly.

Shiro held his right arm in front of his body. “It’s a prosthetic,” he explained. “I had an accident in late May.”

“Yeah, we heard,” Hunk said nervously, “but we didn’t know it was, you know, _that_ bad.”

Shiro nodded. “It was pretty ugly, definitely can’t deny that, but it’s amazing what technology in medicine can do these days.” He wiggled smoothly his fingers. “It’s brand new.” Lance’s mouth fell open.

“This. Is. So. Cool,” he said with wide eyes and took a step towards Shiro. “Um, may I – may I take a proper look at it Can I touch--?”

“LANCE!” Pidge exclaimed and looked as they were about to rip out their hair, well, and maybe Lance’s, too. “Have I taught you nothing? I am so sorry, Shiro. This is super inappropriate.”

"Did your insurance cover this?” Lance kept asking curiously.

“Well,--”

“OKAY LANCE, we gotta go, NOW” Pidge interrupted them and gave Shiro an apologetic look while pulling Lance towards the door. Shiro shrugged in a way that said he hadn’t mind.

“Have a good start!” he called and the others waved him goodbye.

“Was I being too nosy?” Lance asked quietly when they were walking on the path in the direction of the college’s main building.

“Just, you know, this much,” Pidge said and spread their short arms as wide as possible. Lance wrinkled his brows, a sigh slipping from his mouth.

“Please remind me to apologize to him later.”

“You got it, buddy.”

The smell of fresh air outside caused Lance’s cheeks to tingle – it was a mix of the ocean’s salty water and the forest around the old Blackwell college with a hint of childhood memories. Could memories even have a smell? If so, that smell was in the air that morning.

It was September, the warmth of past summer was soon to be replaced by a golden and chilly autumn. The mid-morning sun was high in the sky and forced Lance to shield his eyes for a moment. Hunk and Pidge walked ahead, already in discussion about this semester’s class schedule. Same old, same old.

 _Yeah_ , Lance repeated in his head and let himself fell behind them, _it was good to be back_.

He took his white earphones out of his jeans’ pocket, connected them to his phone and hit play.

 _Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street_  
_Faster than the wind, passionate as sin ending so suddenly_  
_Loving him is like trying to change your mind once you're already flying through the free fall_  
_Like the colors in autumn, so bright just before they lose it all_

Most students were already in class, staring outside the window the three of them were walking by, probably already looking forward to Christmas break. Lance and his friends were lucky to start their first day in the late morning. The campus was almost empty and Lance was glad about it. He wasn’t in the mood for ‘hey how was your summer’ conversation. Although he was somewhat popular in his year, this moment right now belonged to him only.

His mind drifted back to his first day at Blackwell Academy, one year ago.

It had been weird to be back in Arcadia Bay after so many years. He had lived in the small seaside town in Oregon until he had been 13 years old. Then his parents had moved back to Cuba after his grandparents had passed away. His family had taken over their little hotel in Varadero. Lance had protested but it had all been for nothing: he had to move with them. The worst part hadn’t been the new international school or the new country itself. The worst part had been what he had to leave behind.

Who he had to leave behind.

Keith Kogane. His best friend.

Lance sighed.

 _Losing him was blue like I'd never known_  
_Missing him was dark gray all alone_  
_Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met_  
_But loving him was red_  
_Loving him was red_

“Are you coming?” he heard Hunk ask, his voice muffled by Lance’s earphones and the random song playing. He glanced at the clock on his phone. His class was about to begin in 10 minutes.

“Just a minute,” he said absentmindedly. “Just wanna hear that song.”

“Okay.”

Lance tried to push away the sudden melancholy that had made his way into his mind and looked at Hunk.

“Get me a good seat, will ya?” he added with a wink. His friend rolled his eyes but nodded. A ’ _good seat_ ’ by Lance’s definition was usually located in the front row in Allura’s class, the young teacher Lance had a major crush on last semester.

Lance sat down on the backrest of a bench on campus and turned up the volume of the music in his ears. His right leg twitched nervously as he stared at the entrance of the college.

 _Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes_  
_Tell myself it's time now, gotta let go_  
_But moving on from him is impossible_  
_When I still see it all in my head_  
_Burning red, it was red_

One year ago he had sat like this, too. On this bench, staring at the entrance, wondering if Keith was about to walk through the gates of Blackwell Academy. Wondering if he’d chosen the same college as him. Wondering if he even lived here anymore.

But there had been no trace of Keith Kogane in Arcadia Bay. Soon Lance had learned from other students that he’d got kicked out during senior year in high school for getting into a severe fight with another student. He’d been a loner, the others had told him, not very popular. Students had avoided him hence no one knew where he’d gone.

 _And that's why he's spinning 'round in my head_  
_Comes back to me, burning red_

The outro of the song was playing in his ears and Lance hit repeat before the song had come to an end.

Keith.

He’d known him since forever.

They had been friends before Lance had known what friendship meant. As children, they had played together on the beach, pretended to be space explorers saving the world from an alien invasion. Later they got into the same class at elementary school and teachers were quick to notice that these two boys were inseparable.

When they were 9 years old, Keith’s mother died and left him an orphan. He had never known his father so he was out of the picture. Lance had tried to persuade his parents to adopt Keith by making lists with pro and contra arguments (there were zero contra arguments) and by starting heated conversations before his bedtime. (“But he’s already here all the time, why can’t he just _live_ here? We can share a room and my bed is big enough.”) In the end a foster family had been found and both boys were just happy Keith was able to stay in Arcadia Bay. After that they had become even more inseparable.

\---

In the summer break before high school, Lance and Keith went up to the lighthouse as they often did. The view over Arcadia Bay and the ocean was something they never got sick of. The lighthouse was long closed for good but tourists and people with dogs still kept the place alive.

“I gotta tell you something,” Lance had mumbled. He had sat on a bench staring at the ocean, avoiding eye contact with Keith at all costs.

“What is it?” his friend had asked, busy waving a stick of a tree like a sword through the air and entranced by the whooshing sound.

“We’re moving.”

Keith had stopped in his movements, sat down next to him and turned towards Lance.

“What do you mean you’re moving? Where to?”

“To Cuba.”

Silence fell.

The sound of the waves crashing against the cliff was the only thing that reminded Lance that time hadn’t stopped for real. The world was still moving, the earth was still turning, even though his heart might as well stop.

“Is this a joke?” Keith whispered. “If this is a joke, it’s a really bad one.”

“It’s not a joke.”

“Lance, Cuba is like on the other side of the earth,” the dark-haired boy said urgently. Lance could feel his stare like a spear drilling inside his heart.

“Look at me, Lance!” He shook the other’s shoulder. Slowly Lance looked up at Keith, feeling guilty although it hadn’t been his choice.

“I’m sorry.”

“No.” Keith’s hand was still on his friend’s shoulder when he started to shake his own head furiously. “No, Lance, no.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“No!”

Lance put his hands on both sides of Keith’s face to stop him from shaking his head.

“Stop, it’ll make you dizzy,” he said and tried to hold him still. Keith pressed his hands on Lance’s, clutching his fingers firmly.

“When?” he breathed.

Lance tried to pull away but Keith kept his hands in place, his grip on Lance’s cold hands getting tighter.

“When?” he repeated.

“At the end of the vacations. In six weeks.”

He finally loosened his grip and Lance withdrew his hands. Keith took up his wooden stick and angrily threw it down the cliff.

“THIS IS FUCKING UNFAIR!”

\---

The school bell rang and Lance jumped down the bench. With a last glance at the gates, he made his way through the hallway. Second year of college, here we come.

Hunk had kept his word and had saved him a _good seat_ in Allura’s class. Usual he wasn’t the kind of person to sit in the front row but he had really liked her last semester, like, _a lot_. And that accent. Every time she had said his name, his knees had gone weak and he had tried to persuade Hunk to carry him out of class after her lessons...which he actually did once. History had never been Lance’s strongest subject. Too much to memorize. Well, Allura Altea had changed that, or more likely his crush on her. In the end he got an A for his efforts - the academical ones. Sometimes Lance just needed the right motivation to do something. Even it was a crush and the urge to be the best for someone else, no matter how unreachable that person was. This year she was their English teacher. And tbh Lance could really use a boost in his grades again.

“Hello class,” Allura Altea welcomed them with a soft smile. “I hope you all had a lovely summer.”

Lance rested his chin on his hand and smiled at her. She was still beautiful, without any doubt: her long white hair, the calmness she radiated, her eyes always sparkling as if they were made of one thousand different diamonds. But wait...something seemed to have changed after all and Lance stared at her intensely for a brief moment to check it again and again until he was absolutely sure. The butterflies were gone. The realization of the loss made him feel melancholic once again. Lance loved falling for someone; when nothing else mattered anymore; the irrational and overwhelming feeling of just wanting to be close to another person; doing the weirdest things, making a fool of himself, talking too much. (Okay, he didn’t necessarily have to be in love to manage to do this...but it gave him an excuse to be this way.)

Life at Blackwell had just become less exciting. Maybe it had been the right thing, Lance thought. It had been a hopeless crush after all and there was only so much his heart could deal with.

Some minutes later the door opened and urgh.

“Excuse my delay, Mrs. Altea, my meeting with Principal Iverson concerning this year’s fundraising festival took longer than expected.”

“Ah, well, it is indeed important. Just take a seat. Welcome back, Lotor.”

Lotor flounced up to his seat with his long blonde-white hair hanging down his shoulders, dressed in a fancy dark purple shirt, looking like a fucking hipster with his reusable coffee cup in his hand, the English book casually carrying under his arm, what, couldn’t he afford a bag or what, flashing a smile with his perfect teeth at Allura – LANCE, calm down.

Lance gritted his teeth and stopped his internal rambling when Lotor took the free seat right next to him. Just, perfect.

“Hey loser.”

Lance turned half-around, trying to look bored. Lotor grinned at him. This pretentious piece of--

“What?” Lance hissed. Allura was busy writing something at the hidden side of the blackboard.

“Just announcing what you will be.”

“What the fuck are you--”

“Lance!”

Allura’s strict voice sounded through the room.

“Sorry,” he said, his eyes still fixed on Lotor who flashed a wicked smile.

Lance had already forgotten how exactly it had all started. Lotor had just always been the biggest douche bag, simple as that. He and his group of loyal followers constantly waltzed through Blackwell Academy and Arcadia Bay like they’d own it (which was kinda true, though, coming from the richest families in the area). They took pleasure in making the lives of others as miserable as possible and that was a thing Lance couldn't have. Ever since they had made snide remarks about a friend of his, it had become his personal mission to not let Lotor get away with any of his bullshit. And somehow, Lance had noticed, this behavior had earned him some respect from the youngest member of the Galra family.

Allura clapped in her hands to get the classes full attention.

“The annual fundraising festival raises money for the firefighters of Arcadia Bay who did their utmost during the early and sudden wildfire outbreak at the end of May. This year we will do something special as part of it: a contest. And I am delighted to host the event together with the Galra foundation.” Her excitement was intoxicating and soon the whole class hung on her every word. “As you know the festival will take place in the last week of October. And the task is….” She turned around the blackboard.

“Submit a photo or a story that best represents yourself or others in heroic actions,” she read aloud.

Then she looked at Lance.

“And as I can see we already have a hero among us.”

Lance blushed, crush or not, everyone was looking at him. Allura was looking at him. What was going on?

“Sure I am,” he said cockily, trying to hide his irritation by, yeah, talking. “I can be your hero, ba--”

Something hit against his back. A little fist. Gotta be Pidge. He shut his mouth.

“I mean, your shirt,” Allura added, blushing herself slightly.

“Oh.” Lance looked down on him. He had forgotten about the shirt. With big bold letters it said EVERYDAY HERO. How embarrassing. Lotor next to him huffed.

“More like everyday loser.” His squad giggled.

“I expect participation from all of you,” Allura continued in front of the class. “Of course there will be a prize in the end but your project will also contribute to your grade this year. A question, Pidge?”

“Can we do it as a group project?”

The whole class groaned and one student straightaway put his face flat on his desk. Allura furrowed her brows.

“It’s not supposed to be a--”

“Please?”

Everyone held their breath until Allura sighed.

“Alright, I will allow groups up to two persons.”

“I’m with Hunk!”

The whole class broke out into loud chatter and Allura allowed them a minute to calm down. Lance turned around to Pidge, his mouth wide open.

“I have never felt so betrayed in my entire life.”

Pidge shrugged apologetically.

“Sorry, buddy, you have the Allura-bonus because she really likes you. Hunk and I, we’re the science people and we gotta stick together.”

“What, am I supposed to do this on my own now?”

“You’re good at rambling, dude,” Hunk confirmed, “you can do this. You always come up with something.”

Lance pouted and turned back around. The students were still talking, discussing possible ideas and groups formed quickly.

“My father has already agreed to be the subject of my story,” Lotor explained loudly to his friends.

Lance rolled his eyes. Of course Lotor would make his father Zarkon Galra the subject of his essay. The Galras were the most prestigious and oldest family in Arcadia Bay and Lotor was basically the prince. Their foundation owned several companies in the area and they were involved in housing developments and a lot more projects. Another thing the Galras were good at: donating money to the right places and benefit from it. Lotor had recently become 20, the age when the father had to sign over the foundation to his son. It had been big news because Zarkon Galra had tried to change this tradition but the old paperwork forbade it. _What a power-obsessive douche_ , Lance had thought. It wasn’t like he had lost anything. Lotor was cut from the same cloth. Their business would go on as usual.

“Told you,” Lotor said, having turned to Lance for a brief moment. “You’re gonna lose.”

“Ah, shut up, Joffrey.”

Lotor locked his eyes with Lance's.

“Joffrey,” he repeated deadpanned, “a Game of Thrones reference. How original. Why not Viserys? We have almost the same hair.”

Lance pointed angrily his finger at him.

“They both suck so you choose one."

Lotor didn’t even raise an eyebrow but simply turned back around. Lance stared at his table. He hated it when Lotor let him have the last word and pretended to be the smarter one. Crowning Lotor the winner of the contest wasn’t an option, not at all. Hero, hero, who was a hero?

“What is a hero anyway,” he mumbled.

“I can give you a hint,” a voice said next to him and suddenly he looked right into Allura’s eyes. He immediately wished back his crush. Everything had been so easy. So focused. Now he just felt warmth and some kind of affection one had towards someone who was always kind to everyone. It didn’t take over his whole existence anymore. Too bad.

“A hint?” he asked.

“An approach, if you like.” She smiled at him. “It’s like your shirt says. Everyday hero. Everyone is a hero, Lance. Or a heroine. Every single day. The real task,” she said with a wink, “is to capture it. It’s the timing that matters.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> raise your hand if you noticed james in class


	3. Anybody Have A Map?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everyone, meet keith.
> 
> content notes for one single scene: violence as in stabbing and stab wounds (both non-descriptive except the sound of it), blood, head wound and concussion (non-descriptive), death (temporary!) and listening to someone die/begging (wow shit what did i write), to hit someone --- I promise this is the most violent scene in this fic, everything else is a breeze, kind of  
> another scene: getting unconscious, head wound  
> also: food

###  **Anybody Have A Map?**

 

When they didn’t hang out at the campus or the dormitory, the three friends enjoyed lunch or dinner at the local diner Two Whales.  
It was located next to Arcadia Bay’s main road close to the beach. From their favorite booth they could even see the ocean.

“So what do you want to eat?” Hunk asked.

“A large coffee,” Pidge answered absentmindedly. Their face was hidden behind the laptop in front of them.

“I’ll take the usual,” Lance grinned.

“Really? Aren’t you too old for starfish pancakes?”

“Excuse me,” Pidge interjected, “have you met Lance?”

“Yeah Hunk, have you met me?” He put his elbows on the table and his hands under his chin. “I’m adorable and I want starfish pancakes,” he repeated with fluttering eyes.

“Got it,” he said and went to the counter to order their food.

“AND A STRAWBERRY LEMONADE!” Lance yelled as an afterthought across the diner. Hunk gave him an eye-roll and a bored thumbs-up.

“You are so uncool, dude.”

“Shut up, Pidge, I won't let anyone tell me how to live my life. Anyway, I’m gonna hit the loo. There’s nothing better than coming back from the restroom with your food waiting on the table.”

“If Hunk and Shay keep flirting in this tempo, we’re going to sit here until Christmas break.”

“Aw, come on,” Lance said and put his arm around Pidge, “first of all we would starve first and our skeletons would be used as Halloween decoration and secondly: don’t rush them. Not everyone carries their feelings on their tongue."

Pidge raised their eyebrows.

“Who are you and what did you do to Lance?”

“Murdered him. Hid him in the loo. I’m gonna get his body, say goodbye to clone Lance.”

“Urgh.”

“Clones are people too, Pidge, we have feelings.” He put his head on their shoulder.

“There there, clone of Lance,” they said and pat his head with a smile, “you know I love you.” Lance gave them a bright smile and went to the restrooms.

Lance didn’t need to use the bathroom due to necessary bodily functions but sentimental reasons. The three stalls were empty, he was alone. He opened the one on the far right and, yes.  
There it was.  
Carved into the side of the wooden wall.  
A badly shaped lion and the letters K and L.  
With a sigh he sat down on the closed lid and traced the lines with his finger.

'I’m 19 years old and still miss my childhood friend, on a scale from 1 to 10 how pathetic am I?' he asked himself. From his pocket he retrieved a small red toy lion that without a doubt had been the model for the carving. ‘Probably a solid 20.’

Something crashed against the outer bathroom door. Or rather someone, according to the groan that followed. Before Lance could react in any way, he heard the door fly open and his train of thoughts was put into motion.

‘Ok, I’m sitting on a closed lid with a half-closed door while touching the wall, how fucking weird is this?’ He put up his feet and prayed no one would notice him. ‘Please use another stall so I can sneak out’ he prayed silently.

“I don’t have the money on me but I swear--”

Another loud bang followed like someone had crashed in the stall door on the other side, leaving the stall in the middle untouched. Lance’s eyes widened in horror. Whatever was happening right now, he was definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Go ahead and kill me if your boss doesn’t want the money back.”

It was a young man’s voice, way too young to say words like these, Lance thought.

There was an awful blunt sound followed by some seconds of silence. Lance didn’t know what to do. The exit was right behind the attacker, he would never make it. With a racing heart he moved forward and dared to peek outside his stall. He could see him. Or her? Them. The attacker. They were standing in front of the first stall, looking at a person lying on the ground. Lance could only see the legs, motionless. The attacker was only slightly taller than Lance, dressed all in black, wearing a ski mask. Just when he thought the person in the stall was probably dead, he heard a weak groan.

“Man, that hurt,” he heard the young person say.

The attacker got to their knees and pulled out a knife from their boots.

‘I gotta do something,’ Lance thought. His fingers checked his pockets. He cursed at himself for having left his phone on the table. The only two items he had on his body were the red lion and a set of keys.

_Hide or attack?_

Panic flooded his body and tried to force him outside but he stayed in place.

“No, please, don’t, please,” the person whimpered. Lance closed his eyes.

“Please, please.”

A few seconds later he heard the most gruesome sounds – stabbing sounds, multiple, then a choking cough and a gargle. Then nothing.  
The attacker seemed to get up. Lance heard the bathroom door open and close again.  
His eyes still closed he counted to ten. When he opened them again, he saw a fine line of blood at his feet, coming from the stall next to his.  
Feeling sick and dizzy he finally left the stall. Step by step he made his way to the other side.  
He could see the person’s legs.  
The upper body.  
Stab wounds, oh God.  
The face, the blood in his mouth he had choked on.  
For a moment Lance froze.  
The young man on the ground. He looked familiar. Older, yes, but.

“Keith?” Lance stuttered. He fell forward on his knees, squeezing himself next to the lifeless body in the stall.

“Keith?” Helplessly he pressed his hands against the wounds on his chest.

“Keith, hang in there, please. HELP!” he shouted, “I NEED HELP, God, I need help.”

The blood was warm on his hands, Keith’s body was still warm. That’s when the shock hit him.

Keith was dead.

 

**And everything went white.**

 

There was an awful blunt sound followed by some seconds of silence. Lance looked around in confusion. He was back in the stall with the carved lion. What had happened? He went to look outside and stopped dead in his tracks.

The attacker. The attacker was back. But why did it feel like a déjà-vu? No. Not a déjà-vu. Like it had happened before.  
Like time had been reversed.  
He heard a groan. Keith’s groan. He was alive! Again?  
Images of Keith dead in his arms flashed before his eyes.  
Quickly he got the set of keys out of his pocket.

_Hide or attack?_

Panic flooded his body and tried to force him outside and this time Lance let the panic guide him.

“Man, that hurt.”

Carefully he opened the stall door. The attacker took out their knife. They wouldn’t be able to see him from this angle, Lance tried to convince himself. As silent as possible he sneaked outside his stall. He held the set of keys tight in his hands, forming a hopefully dangerous weapon. Without stopping or any doubt he walked over to the first stall, clutched the keys tighter in his hand and smacked them at the attacker’s head, not once but several times.

“YOU. LEAVE. HIM. ALONE. I’M GONNA KILL YOU!” Lance yelled. The dark-hooded figure shielded their head with their arms, then turned the knife towards Lance. For a second they looked at each other, both of them thinking about their next move. Before Lance could continue his attack, the person quickly got up – visibly dizzy - and stumbled outside.  
Lance thought about following them when--

“Well, that was dramatic.”

Out of breath he turned around. His mouth fell open.  
Keith still lay on the floor. His elbows supported his upper body and the bastard fucking smiled. He looked like he was taking a sunbath on a beach.

“Are you helping me up or what? I don’t mean to exploit your chivalry but I could really use a hand right now.”

Lance was still in shock. Three minutes ago he had cradled Keith’s dead body in his arms. He was absolutely sure it had happened. It hadn’t been a dream or a hallucination. He could still feel the warmth of Keith’s blood on his hands.

“Sure, sure,” Lance stuttered. Carefully he helped him up. Feeling Keith move next to him was even weirder. He was alive. Again.

“Ah damn,” Keith sighed when he touched his head. “That asshole hit me good.” He walked past Lance to the sink and washed the blood off his hands.

Was this a usual day for him?

“You’re weirdly quiet for someone who screamed bloody murder not even a minute ago. Quite literally.”

“Shit, what’s wrong with you?” Lance suddenly burst out. “That guy wanted to kill you slasher-movie-style!”

Keith snorted unfazed. “You don’t know that.”

What could he possibly say after this? Z-snap his fingers and say ‘umm yes *snap* I *snap* know that *snap*’? Not really.  
He felt Keith’s eyes on him in the reflection of the mirror.

“Thank you, though. Seriously. But you should better leave and lay low for a while, trust me. If you’re lucky you hit her good enough she won’t remember your face.” He grabbed some paper towels and pressed them against his head. A low wince escaped his mouth. “What you did was very unwise, actually. Getting involved in this."  
He turned around.

“Unwise? Do you consider getting beat up by a ninja in the restroom of a pancake diner particularly clever?” Lance’s voice was shaky but his inner tension started to ease. And obviously made his mouth talk again.

“Ninja,” Keith repeated amused, “what are you, like twelve?”

Lance took a deep breath.  
“Right now I actually feel like thirteen.” He reached into his pocket. His heart beat like mad when he retrieved the red toy lion.  
“I told you I’d give it back to you,” he said quietly and offered it Keith.

There was a humming silence between them.  
Keith slowly dropped the paper towel. His eyes widened.  
He took the red lion in his hands. Holding it like a treasure he examined it for a few seconds. Then his gaze turned back up, studying the young man in front of him.

“...Lance?” he said very confusedly.

“The one and only.”

Lance’s voice wavered a bit but then a relieved smile spread across Keith’s face and Lance couldn’t help himself: he smiled as well.  
Keith’s black hair had gotten longer, a bit too long, Lance thought. His facial features were more defined. He wore a pair of dark ripped jeans and a black hoodie. But honestly, he looked pretty much the same, except taller (though still slightly shorter than Lance, he noticed with satisfaction) and older. Somehow. But good. He looked really good.

“I can’t believe it,” Keith whispered.

Awkwardly they stared at each other.  
When Lance had thought about their reunion, he’d imagined reconnecting with him as no time had passed. Despite all the things that had happened in the past. But now he realized that six years had been a pretty damn long time after all.  
Suddenly the siren of a police car sounded near. Without any hesitation, Keith grabbed Lance’s wrist.

“Shit, we need to leave, now.”

They left the bathroom and Keith pulled him towards the back door next to the restroom.

“This way, my bike’s there.”

“Your bike? Like in motorcycle?”

“No, it’s a tandem with a basket weaved of fucking daisies.”

Lance tilted his head and stopped.

“Oh my God,” Keith groaned, running his hand over his face, “of course it’s a motorcycle, you genius.” The sirens in the background had gotten nearer and Keith pulled at Lance’s wrist. “Come on.”

“Wait, I gotta tell my friends that I leave.”

“We don’t have time for this!”

Lance shook off his hand and hurried towards the diner area.  
“I’ll be quick,” he shouted back. Keith closed his eyes in defeat.

“Lance!” Pidge exclaimed, munching some fries they’d stolen from Hunk’s plate. “I was about to send search and rescue. So where’s the body?”

Lance stared at them in shock.  
“Wh- what?”

“Murder in the restroom? Was it very bloody?”

“What?”

“Attack of the clones?” Pidge explained with a frown, “you hiding the true Lance? Dude, we had this conversation like 5 minutes ago.”

“Are you okay, buddy?” Hunk asked with worry in his eyes. “You look paler than your pancakes.”

Lance shook his head and grabbed his phone and backpack.  
“Yeah, no. I gotta go. Tell you later.”

Pidge and Hunk shared a questioning look as Lance hurried back towards the restroom. On his way he glanced outside the huge windows of the diner: cops.  
Two cops had just left their car and briskly walked towards the diner’s entrance.  
For a brief second, he thought it might have been a dream after all.  
Maybe Keith was gone again.  
Maybe this had all been a trick in his mind.  
Maybe he had never existed in the first place.  
The things you could question in one second…  
He turned around the corner and – nothing. Keith was gone.  
His heart sunk low.  
So it had been a dream?  
Unsure about this whole situation he drifted towards the back door and gave it a weak push. It wasn’t locked.  
He pushed through and -

“Took you long enough.”

Keith glared at him, leaning against a black-red motorcycle with his arms folded.

“I thought--” Lance started to stammer but quickly got a grip again when his childhood friend smoothly sat down on the bike. “Nice ride. But what about the cops?”

“I don't know. I just didn’t want to run into them.” He pushed Lance his only red helmet in his hands. “Let’s just go.”

Lance hadn’t been on a motorcycle before but he had watched enough movies to make it look as casual as possible – at least that’s what he thought he’d do. He pressed his body close to Keith’s back and put his arms around him. With a roar the machine came to life and they left the parking lot of the diner. When they got on the main road, Lance’s grip around Keith tightened.

“First time on a bike?” Keith shouted when they stopped on a red light.

“Yeah,” Lance admitted, “what gave it away?”

“Hold tighter,” he said and took one hand off the handlebars to pat Lance’s hand. “And lean with me in the curves, okay? Trust me.”

Soon they left Arcadia Bay behind them, only the open road ahead. On their left was the Pacific, the afternoon sun slowly descending towards the ocean. Lance was taken off guard when the motorcycle suddenly sped up. With a surprised gasp, he pressed himself even closer to Keith. The lid of Lance’s helmet was half-open and he inhaled the cold salty air and – wow, the smell of Keith’s hair. It hadn’t changed a bit. The same subtle cologne Lance’s mother had given them both as a present during their last weeks together. (“So you won’t steal your father’s cologne again, mis hijos.”) Weird that he was still using the same.  
  
The combination of the fresh ocean and Keith brought him right back to their shared childhood many years ago.  
Lance closed his eyes, his stomach and heart slowly getting accustomed to this very literal trip on memory lane.  
As much as their last summer together had been the worst, it had also been the best.  
The memory of this summer was much clearer in Lance’s mind, probably because they’d been older. They were still playing some games together but they talked more. Serious talk. Deep talk.  
It had taken Lance by surprise because the initiative to their frequent talks had come from Keith. He’d changed a bit, this summer, Lance had noticed but he had never known what had caused it. It had been good though. More than good, actually. He’d never felt so close to anybody than to Keith during these couple of months. Never again.  
And it all came back to him.

\--

“Do you think there’s another universe where we’re walking on a beach and everything is the same except the ocean is pink?”

Lance had laughed. They had been walking along Arcadia Bay’s beach, collecting odd-shaped stones and pretty shells.

“A pink ocean? That would be boring. We would totally be space cowboys.”

“Your idea is so much better.”

Lance had looked at him with a ‘d’uh, of course’ face.

“I watched another space documentary yesterday,” Keith said, “like, there are hundreds of millions of different universes. We probably only know each other in this one.”

“Keith,” Lance said matter-of-factly, “we’d be friends in every universe.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Can you imagine a universe where we wouldn’t be best friends?” Lance said and made a shocked face.

Keith smiled.  
“Well, no.”

Lance raised his hand as he had just proven a point.  
“See? Neither do I. That universe would collapse immediately.”

Keith chuckled.

“What?”

“I just remembered we once said we’d marry each other.”

“We did? Can’t remember.”

“We were like 5 or 6?”

They walked for a few seconds in silence.

“It was my sixth birthday,” Lance suddenly said and Keith turned around. “I remember, alright, don’t look so surprised. I’m pretty sure I was the one who came up with it.”

“Why did you say it?”

“I didn’t know what marriage was, okay? I thought it was like this cool thing two people did when they wanted to be together forever.”

Keith had looked at him, kind of cautiously.  
“I still want to be with you forever,” he had said.

Lance was inspecting another stone he had just found.  
“Well, sure, me too,” he said absentmindedly, “but obviously we won’t marry.”

“Obviously,” Keith had repeated quietly.

“Look at this stone, it looks like a cow!”

\--

The coastal road went on for another 10 minutes, then Keith turned into a side street that led into a forest. It had to be close to the lighthouse, Lance thought, basically the only tourist attraction of Arcadia Bay.  
The road wasn’t very good, only allowing them to drive 15 mp/h. The trees shielded the street from the sun and made Lance painfully aware that he was only wearing his favorite shirt under his light jacket. Keith took another turn and the motorcycle crawled on an unpaved path through the woods.  
On the end there was a wooden cabin.  
Keith stopped and put his feet down.  
Lance took this as a cue to get off and Keith followed him.

“Thanks for the ride,” Lance said when he gave him back the helmet. “I forgot how scenic the coast was the way up here.” The fuck I’m talking about, he asked himself, I just saved his life and I’m talking about the fucking landscape. His fingers fumbled through his hair, trying to straighten it – without much success.  
His heart was still racing.  
And Keith, now standing in front of him, looking at him with some unspoken questions in his eyes, wasn’t exactly calming his nerves. Quite on the contrary.

“So, you live here?” Lance asked.

“Sometimes.” He motioned his head to follow him inside.

It wasn’t big. Basically it was one huge room that served as a living room and an open kitchen. Only a small bathroom was separate. Everything was very woody. The couch was wide, spread to a sleeping bed, there were a very old TV, some bookshelves and old pictures of flowers on the wall. It wasn’t like Lance would have expected Keith to live like.

“Can you get the fire going?” Keith asked him. “I’ll be right back.” He pointed at the small fireplace. Some logs already lay in it.

“Sure.”

Keith disappeared in the bathroom, the door shut behind him. A few seconds later the water of a running shower could be heard.  
Although it had been a while since Lance had started a fire, he managed to get it going. In Cuba, there was absolutely no need for a fireplace but they had one when they were still living in Arcadia Bay. His father had never allowed him to get near the fireplace when he was busy setting the logs on fire. But he had always watched.  
Keith wasn’t back from the bathroom yet so Lance took the time to roam the cabin.  
It looked more like a cabin to rent, not like someone would really live here. No personal stuff.  
Disappointed Lance sat down on the make-shift bed. He had hoped to find some hints about who Keith had become. Especially why someone would try to kill him. Correction: why someone would actually kill him.

The fire slowly heated the cabin. The warmth made his cheeks tickle.  
What took Keith so long?  
He lay back on the couch and closed his eyes.  
Time for a quick recap.  
The day had started normally. It was a Sunday and they had slept in. Sometime in the late afternoon, they had taken down the bus to the city center (if you wanna call it that) and they had settled down in the Two Whales. Then--

Wait.

Lance shuffled to the side to pull his cell phone out of his pocket.  
Pidge and Hunk had left him a dozen messages. A look at the clock told him he was only gone about half an hour yet. He opened the group chat.

 

lance: hey sorry for busting out like this, I met a friend

hunk: are you ok?

lance: I think so

hunk: ???

lance: I’m fine

pidge: who did you meet?

 

Lance hesitated for a second.

 

lance: I found keith

pidge: ahhh this is great lance!

hunk: where are you, should we wait for you at the bus stop?

hunk: yeah, it’s great

lance: I’m at his house, don’t wait for me

pidge: have fun :)

lance: thx

hunk: take a cab if it’s too late

lance: lol yes

lance: bye

 

He put back his phone. Strange that he hadn’t got the red lion in his pocket anymore. But it also felt right. He had promised to give it back and now the day had finally arrived. Even though under very questionable circumstances. Had it been weird he had carried it around all the time? Did Keith notice that?  
Suddenly Lance realized that it was very quiet. Except for the fire cracking it was way too quiet.  
His eyes wandered to the bathroom door. He couldn’t hear the shower anymore. That was strange.

“Keith?” he shouted as he walked up to the door. “Is everything alright?”

No answer.  
His heart clenched.

“Keith?”

Still no answer.

“I’m coming in,” he announced but – failed. The door was locked from the inside. “Shit.”

It took him three tries to get the door open. With the third try, the door sprung open and--

“No, not again,” he gasped at what he saw.

 

**Then everything went white.**

 

Lance found himself lying on the couch, the phone in his hand.  
The group chat was open.

 

lance: lol yes

lance: bye

 

He remembered. Not that shit again.  
Without any hesitation, he threw his phone to the side and ran towards the bathroom.

“KEITH, I’M COMING IN!” he yelled in sheer panic.

He took a run and charged towards the door when –

Click.

The door got opened. Only a small crack.  
Lance pushed it open.

“I feel weird,” Keith said under his breath. He sat on the edge of the bathtub, one hand pressing against his forehead. He had changed into another shirt and pajama shorts, his hair still wet from the shower he had taken.

Lance rushed down in front of him, blocking him from the bathroom sink opposite of him.  
“Let’s get you to bed,” he said.

In this moment Keith fell forward.  
The sudden weight in his arms surprised Lance and he hit the back of his head slightly on the sink.

“Ouch,” he mumbled but kept the unconscious Keith tight in his arms. Carefully he grabbed him under his shoulders. It wasn’t very smooth or elegant but he managed to drag him through the cabin and put him on the bed.

“Keith?”

No reaction. But alas, he was breathing. No bloody head wound. He covered him with the blanket. For the first time this day he had the chance to look at his friend properly.

That’s Keith.  
That’s his Keith.  
He allowed himself to smile weakly.

“Don’t fucking die on me again, Kogane.”

With a heavy sigh, Lance slid down on the floor, his back resting against the couch, his head turning upwards.

“That being said: Are you kidding me?” he whispered to himself, Keith and the universe. “I have superpowers.” With the backside of his hand, he swiped away the sweat on his forehead. “In what kind of fucked-up world would that be allowed to happen?”

If it had happened only once, he would have ticked it off of a ‘ten signs you’re too stressed’ list, pretending he was just hallucinating shit. But after he had found Keith’s body only a few minutes ago on the cold bathroom floor with--  
No, he didn’t want to think about it again.

He had turned back time. Twice.  
He had saved Keith’s life. Twice.  
In a bloody bathroom (literally). Twice!  
This was surreal.  
Of course he did the only thing a reasonable person would do in a situation like that.  
He took out his phone and googled ‘I can turn back time what now’.

The first page of search results was without exception related to Cher’s song ‘If I could turn back time’. Lance huffed. Suddenly he heard Keith shift behind him on the couch.

“Are you awake?” Lance asked quietly and turned his head around to look at him. No reaction, just a grunt. He had turned himself on his side. Seconds later Lance felt a hand on his own head. Keith’s hand. He was about to push it away but then the fingers found their way through his hair, resting calmly on his head.

“Okey dokey,” Lance said slowly, more to himself than to Keith who was obviously still out of it, and shrugged internally.

Back to the search results.  
(Actually, the hand felt quite nice.)

The lyrics of Cher’s song. He probably wouldn't find any explanations in a song about...wait. Was there something about a knife?

 _If I could turn back time_  
_If I could find a way_  
_I'd take back those words that hurt you_  
_And you'd stay_  
_I don't know why I did the things I did_  
_I don't know why I said the things I said_  
_Love's like a knife it can cut deep inside_  
_Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes_  
_I didn't really mean to hurt you_  
_I didn't want to see you go_  
_I know I made you cry, but baby_

Lance looked up from the lyrics like he’d just seen a ghost. Was the universe messing with him? The last time he and Keith had talked, properly talked, it had led into this huge fight on Skype and--  
It hadn’t been the same after that. It had been the moment when everything had changed with a snap of a finger. They had already drifted apart before, only exchanging birthday one-liners, but that evening they had stopped talking to each other at all. And reading those lyrics now was...oddly...fitting.

Never mind, Lance thought, the universe wouldn’t send Cher to tell him about his superpower. Then he thought about Mamma Mia 2 and squinted his eyes. Or would it?  
An hour later both Lance’s body power and his phone power were at 1%. He had looked at countless wikiHows, studied every movie plot about time-traveling from Back To The Future to X-Men: Days Of Future Past, read weird short stories and scientific research papers that went mostly way over his head.  
But he had found another song.

 _If only I could turn back time,_  
_If only I had said what I still hide_  
_If only I could turn back time,_  
_I would stay for the night._

In all this mess song lyrics were the only thing that somehow made sense. Even if they came from the band who had gifted the world with Barbie Girl. A part of him had always wished to turn back time to stay in Arcadia Bay. Lance didn’t know what he should make of the part about hiding things but whatever. He had a strange connection to the song lyrics even though they didn’t match precisely. It was like he understood only a part of it.  
Maybe there was no logic to apply to this situation. Maybe he just had to accept it. Like he had accepted Keith Kogane’s hand messing up his hair, for example. It was actually kind of soothing and reminded him that Keith was, in fact, not dead.  
The battery of his phone, on the other hand, was dead as fuck by now and Lance closed his eyes. Just, you know, for a second.

~~

A second later Lance woke up.  
The first thing he noticed was that the hand in his hair was gone.  
The second thing he noticed was that his neck and butt hurt like hell.  
The third thing he noticed was that he might have slept longer than just a second.  
A noise in the room made his head turn towards the kitchenette.

Keith leaned against the kitchen counter, a bowl of cornflakes in his hand.

“Do you want some?” he asked with his mouth full, the bangs of his dark hair half-covering his eyes. His voice was raspy.  
Lance realized how hungry he was. If the clock above the door was correct, it was about 10 pm.

“Yeah,” he answered and got up. God, his joints hurt really bad. Sleeping on a wooden floor hadn’t been a good idea. Keith shoved an empty bowl towards him. “Cap’n Crunch. Haven’t had them in like forever,” Lance said, trying to sound light. Keith eyed him briefly.

They both ate in silence.  
Keith washed up the bowls in silence.  
Lance wiped them dry in silence.

“Listen,” Keith said finally and looked at Lance. They were still standing next to each other in the kitchen area. “Thanks.”

Lance nodded silently. Everything was really weird and stiff between them.  
“You already said that.”

“Back then I hadn’t recognized you yet.”

Lance wanted to make a joke about being scandalized.

“I hit my head pretty hard, alright?” Keith added more quietly.

Lance nodded. “I get it. So...it’s different it was me back there?”

“Of course,” Keith said firmly and Lance turned towards him in surprise. “I mean,” he toned down, “kind of. You’re not just – anybody.”

“Hm,” Lance hummed and stared back into the open room. Everything was so fucking weird right now. Keith behaved weirdly, he felt weird, this day had been weird. He didn’t know what to say, by the love of the universe, he didn’t know anything anymore.  
Keith softly grabbed his wrist (what’s up with him and his wrist) and turned him around so they faced each other again. His brows were furrowed and he looked very serious.

“What I wanted to say is: You helped me a lot today. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been there.”

What was he supposed to say? ‘Yeah but I know: you would have fucking died, dude.’ But Keith’s sincerity held him back from any pseudo-funny comments.

“Not a big deal, okay? Everything is fine,” he said instead. Keith didn’t look content at all but he let Lance’s wrist go.

“How are you, how is your--” Lance pointed at Keith’s head.

“Better. Can’t remember much, though. Very blurry.” Keith looked unsure at the ground. “Last thing I remember is that I was taking a shower.” He ended the sentence with the note of a question mark.  
Lance huffed.

“What?”

“You passed out in the bathroom.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry, you were already dressed.”

After a second Keith added “But how….”

Lance turned back to him.  
“Well, I did what I had to do and dragged your sorry ass through the cabin into bed.” The words came out harsher than he had wanted to.  
Lance bit his lip, cursing at himself for being so insensitive but then something unexpected happened.

Keith’s corner of the mouth twitched and then he full-on smiled, no, he chuckled.  
“Sorry you had to do that. But I see you dressed for the occasion,” he said and pointed at Lance’s Everyday Hero shirt.

“Ah, that’s my part-time job. Also, people sometimes faint in my presence, so don’t worry.”

Now they were both laughing and it made Lance feel warm and fuzzy.  
Here they were, together again, and despite all the circumstances they were laughing and sharing looks like secrets, still a bit shy around each other. Gosh, he had missed him. He had missed him so badly, it had hurt. All those years. Every time he had thought of him. And now they were both here and Lance’s heart fluttered happily.

“You’re still Lance,” Keith said with a glint in his eyes.

“Of course I am. But are you still Keith?” Lance joked but Keith looked at him in a strange way that wasn’t fun at all. Intrusive, almost. Did they look at each other like that when they’d been younger? Keith’s dark eyes scanned his face, his eyes, his mouth, his nose, every little freckle almost. Like he had to look at Lance to validate something.

“Yeah,” he finally said, almost like a whisper. “surprisingly I am.”

Lance’s eyes fluttered slightly irritated.

“Uhm, coo-cool?”

~~

Keith didn’t want to see a doctor so they sat back on the couch. He leaned his back against the wall and Lance sat cross-legged opposite of him. He had plugged in his phone and restarted it.  
More messages from Hunk and Pidge, even from his mom. (Thankfully completely unrelated to anything that had happened today.)

 

hunk: hey, are you still with keith? If your not back at 10 shiro will kill you.

pidge: *you’re

hunk: ….

hunk: lance?

pidge: dude, come on, we’re seriously worried

 

ah shit.

 

lance: everybody chill alright, I fell asleep

pidge: o.O

pidge: O.O

hunk: at keiths?

 

ah shit shit.

 

“Something wrong?” Keith asked.

Lance grimaced.  
“My friends are wondering where I am. I mean, they know I’m with you but-- I didn’t tell them about the, uh, incident. And then we fell asleep and now they’re worried.”

“They know who I am?”

Lance watched his friend’s expression. Honest surprise.  
“Yeah, of course, I mean, I mentioned you a couple of times.” Why did he feel so strange right now? Was it weird he had talked about him? Darn. Just keep talking.  
“Pidge and Hunk. From Blackwell Academy. We’re in the same dormitory, too. They started with me last year and I told them that I have lived here before, and yeah, so I mentioned us, I mean, you. Us being friends and – stuff.”

“You’ve been here last year, too?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t find you, where were you?”

Keith raised his eyebrows. But why-- Oh fucking great, Lance, much creepy.

“Okay, that sounded stalkery. I only asked some people if they knew you, okay?”  
Jeez, since when was it so hard to have a normal conversation?

“That’s not what stalking means.”

“Oh, you know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Well, then use the right words.” Keith grinned and put his tongue between his teeth. Goddammit. They were thirteen again, without any doubt.

“I basically saved your life and you’re lecturing me about,” he waved his hand around, “stuff like that? Dude?”

Keith huffed a laugh.  
“Well, yeah. Maybe that’s why you saved me? So that I can lecture you? Dude?” he added and grinned again.

“You sound like Pidge,” Lance said appalled. Keith tilted his head. This was strangely endearing. “And Pidge is usually right about everything.”

“Then Pidge is a smart….?”

“Person. They are a brilliant person. And Hunk, he’s just great, too.”

“Cool. And I was in Portland,” Keith finally said. “Worked there for some time. But I got back in summer.”

“No wonder I couldn’t _locate_ you.”

Keith raised his eyebrows approvingly at Lance’s choice of word.  
“But you did today. Pretty good timing.”

Lance had to smile but he turned his gaze away from him. Speaking of timing…  
The picture of Keith lying in the diner’s restroom was still too present in his mind.

“Did you really look for me?”

“Yeah,” Lance admitted. “I mean, we are – were - best friends.” He searched Keith’s face for something though he didn’t quite know for what.

“Yes, we were,” Keith said.

The silence between them got longer. Then Keith pointed at the phone in Lance’s hand.

“I can drive you back to Blackwell if you want?”

“No!” Lance stopped him immediately. “Your head, someone should stay with you.”

“You don’t have to, also my head’s fine.”

“Yeah sure,” Lance laughed bitterly, “you managed to drive us here before you collapsed in the bathroom, no thank you, I am staying.”

“Okay.”

“Good.”

He got back to his phone.

 

lance: sorry hey everything is fine, I fell asleep

pidge: o.O

pidge: O.O

hunk: at keiths?

lance: yup, we had some catching up to do

hunk: say hi from us, we wanna meet him

pidge: you fell asleep? is he that boring?

 

Lance huffed. Boring, sure.

 

pidge: or

pidge: lol

pidge: exciting

 

Lance felt a light blush in his cheeks. What was that supposed to mean? Was that supposed to mean what – Pidge, no. His eyes flickered up to Keith who was still leaning against the wall, staring somewhere up to the ceiling. Yes, Keith was an attractive person, without any doubt. But jeez. Super inappropriate, Pidge.

 

hunk: ?

pidge: I have questions.

hunk: me too, what am I missing here?

pidge: have fun lance ;)

 

Lance made a grunting sound and Keith chuckled.

“What are they saying? Are you making fun of me?”

“No, uhm.” Lance stuttered, “they’re making fun of me, actually.”

“How?”

“Ah, it’s nothing,” he derailed quickly, “also they wanna meet you.”

Keith’s eyes widened.

“Me?”

“Sure.”

“Cool.”

 

lance: he’s my childhood friend, stop implying stuff

hunk: ohhhhhh

pidge: sorry buddy, just a joke to push my queer agenda

 

He put the phone away.

“So.”

“So.”

“You know you gotta tell me what happened in the diner, right?” Lance started carefully.

Keith closed his eyes.  
“Can we...postpone it? Please.”

“Just tell me, Keith. You said it yourself, I’m involved in this now. You gotta tell me, man.”

Keith gave him a subtle look-over, like before in the kitchen. After a few moments, he gritted his teeth.  
“I owe someone money, okay?”

Here we go, Lance thought and put on his trustworthy talk show host face.  
“Alright. How much money are we talking about?”

“It doesn’t matter because I don’t have it.”

“Maybe I can help?” Lance offered.

Keith huffed.

“What? I have some savings!”

Keith stared at him.  
“10 grand.”

“WHAT?”

“What ‘what’?”

“The what-did-you-need-10-grand-for-kinda-what!” Lance said and threw his hands in the air. “And what kind of person loans a 19-year-old that amount of money?”

With a grumble Keith got up. He walked up to the window and turned his back to Lance, pretending to look outside.  
“It was a gang I used to work for. And I just. Needed it. Okay?” he said slowly.

“Is it drugs?”

“No.”

“You can tell me, man, I won’t judge, I just--”

“It was for someone else,” Keith shouted angrily and turned around. “And if I had to make the choice again, I would, okay? I don’t regret it, I just have to live with the consequences. That’s all there is to know.”

Lance fell silent. It was weird seeing Keith so defensive.  
“Okay. So, you knew who attacked you? Back in the diner, you said ‘she’. So, you knew?”

Keith leaned against the window, arms crossed before his body.  
“She’s the one to intimidate the creditors.”

“Intimidate,” Lance repeated with air quotes. “Sure.”

“I’m a week late with the paying and they are following me ever since, especially her. I knew she was behind me so I tried to lose her trail by hiding in the diner."

“It didn’t work.”

Keith rolled his eyes.  
“You don’t say.”

“What now, Keith? Man, you need help. Should we go to the police?”

“Lance,” Keith said urgently and walked back to the couch. He sat down and put one hand on Lance’s arm. “No police. You hear me? They have their people everywhere.”  
Anxiety rose up in Lance.

“But how are you supposed to get out of it?”

“I’ll find a way. No police, promise me.”

Lance could feel a lump in his throat. Keith’s grip on his arm was strong. Damn. Lance put his other hand on top of Keith’s.  
“I promise.”

“Thank you.”

The evening passed by and soon it was midnight. Keith had lent Lance some pajamas for the night (there were personal things in this room, Lance had learned, hidden in a trunk at the end of the sleeping couch). The cabin itself belonged to a friend of Keith. After having left Portland he hadn’t found a new one-room-flat in Arcadia Bay yet so he had stayed here ever since.  
The fire was still burning and the only light source.

Keith and Lance lay side by side on the sleeping couch. They had slept like this hundreds of times when they were younger so it hadn't even be a question about who would get the couch and who had to sleep on the floor. It felt natural like this. But also intimate in a very new way.  
Keith didn’t want to talk any more about his money problems and Lance finally let it drop, at least for the rest of the night.

“How’s your family?” Keith asked after a long period of silence. They both stared at the ceiling, watching the shadows of the fire flickering through the cabin.

“Good. My parents are still in Cuba. Luis got married and works in Havanna, Marc and Rachel help with the hotel.”

“And Veronica?”

“She’s in New York.”

“That fits.”

“Right?”

Lance told him all about Cuba, about the beaches, his school, some new friends up until his journey back to Arcadia Bay.  
It took some work but Lance also managed to make Keith talk about the last few years. First he was wary but Lance didn’t let go and this time it was a good thing. Sometimes it had been that way when they were younger. Lance had pushed Keith when he felt that all Keith needed was someone to show him that he cared, really cared, that he wanted Keith to talk to him. So Keith told him about his high school years and the drop-out.

“You punched a kid?” Lance repeated.

“I did.”

“Damn.”  
He turned his head and looked at him. That small kid next to him had been involved in a beating? Unreal. Okay, he wasn’t that small anymore. Also, he rode a badass bike.

Keith shrugged.  
“He had it coming, sooner or later. I’m sure you know him, he goes to Blackwell. That Galra kid Lotor.”

Lance whirled around, hovering above Keith. One hand next to Keith’s face, the other wildly tapping against his chest.  
“Dude.”

“What?” Keith looked at him confused.

“DUDE.”

“Would you stop punching me?”

Lance stopped the tapping and let his hand rest against Keith’s chest. Keith’s eyes widened and he froze.  
“You punched Lotor. He’s my arch-nemesis. Gosh, Keith! KEITH! You’re the one who broke his nose!”

“I did.”

“People are still talking about that punch! You are amazing! I give him shit every day and you punched him. We are the best team ever. Where have you been all my life?”  
Lance’s grin faded when he realized how Keith’s expression changed from confusion to something somber, almost sad.

“I was always here, Lance,” he said. His voice sounded small and lost. Gently he pushed Lance back.

“Hm. I know.”  
Lance scratched his neck.  
“That was a stupid thing to say, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not.” Lance took a deep breath and crossed his legs. Keith was still lying on this back. “Listen. This will probably be awkward but...I missed you, okay? A lot. And it sucked that I had to move away. And I hate everything about it. Even now. Especially now.” The words just spilled out of him and he was painfully aware that he was this close to crying. He’d missed his friend dearly, then he had to watch him die today, TWICE, and he couldn’t let it happen again. He wasn’t gonna leave ever again. “You know why I was in the bathroom of the diner in the first place? There’s still this shitty lion you drew. And then you got killed, I mean almost got killed, and then you almost broke your stupid neck in the bathroom and-- can you please not die?” He buried his head in his hands.  
Way to go, Lance, he thought.  
Keith leaned up on his elbows.

“Lance, look at me. Lance.”

“Keith.” He looked up. “I’m sorry. About everything.”

There were tears in Keith’s eyes too when he shuffled over to Lance.  
“I missed you too,” Keith said and wiped away a tear from Lance’s face. “More than you can imagine.”

Then they hugged each other for a very long time and the awkwardness melted away with every second.

~~

It was half-past 7 in the morning when Keith pulled up with his bike at the school parking lot.

“Send my regards to Lotor,” Keith said when Lance gave him back the helmet.

“Oh, I will, trust me.” They shared a laugh.

It was so good to see Keith laugh again. To see Keith in general. How he just leaned against his bike (super cool) and that whatever had stood between them was gone. Mostly at least, Lance thought. They had more catching up to do and Lance was constantly busy making a list in his head with things he still had to tell Keith about. And he hoped Keith was making a similar list. Because Keith was the coolest person ever if one got to know him. Always had been, always would be, sorry, Lance didn’t make the rules.

“Alright, I see you later?” Keith asked carefully but with a smile on his lips.

“Shut up, I’m not gonna fly back to Cuba today,” Lance retorted and softly punched his shoulder.

“Just wanted to make sure.”

“Very funny.”

“HEY LANCE!”

Lance turned around. Of course.  
He gave Pidge and Hunk a wave and an ‘I’ll catch up with you later just leave me the fuck alone’ face but, well, they were on their way down to the parking lot. Keith got up from his bike and Lance didn’t miss to notice that he seemed to get nervous, subtly trying to straighten his shirt and hair.

“Chill, man.”

“I’m chill.”

“Totally.”

“Hi, I’m Pidge, you must be Keith,” Pidge introduce themselves before Lance could even open his mouth. “Nice to meet you, really, Lance wouldn’t shut up about you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Keith said and shook their hand. Lance was too busy controlling his twitching eye. “Yeah, he’s quite the talker.”

“And I’m Hunk,” Hunk said. “Cool machine. How long are you driving her?”

“Thanks,” Keith said, “about three years now.”

“That’s dope.”

“Okay,” Lance said, finding his voice again, “we gotta go to class, bye Keith.” The three friends only had taken a few steps away when--

“Lance!”  
Lance turned around. Keith waved him back.

“You go ahead,” he said to his friends, “I’ll be right back.”  
Lance jogged back to him.  
“What’s up?”

Keith put out his hand.  
“Give me your phone.”

“What? Why?” Lance asked irritated but gave it him anyway.

Keith chuckled.  
“You don’t have my number, genius.”

The parking lot got very crowded as more of the local students arrived. No one else here had a motorcycle, especially not one that was as cool as Keith’s black-red bike. And Keith didn’t attend the school so naturally every one of the arriving students stared curiously. Or maybe some of them recognized him as the one who had been expelled by punching Lotor. Whatever it was, Lance could feel their eyes on them.  
And.  
It felt kinda good? Yes, this cool person was here with him. And was typing his number into his phone.  
Lance shook his head at his own childish feelings.  
Keith didn’t pay any attention to the other students around them. Which made it even better. When did this kid become so cool? No wait. He’d always been cool.

“Alright,” he said and handed him back the phone. With the other hand, he brushed his bangs away from his eyes before he put on his helmet.  
“Text me when you’re done with class and I’ll pick you up.” He got on his bike and closed the lid. “Or call me,” he said and made the call-me sign with his hand. This simple action started a chain reaction in Lance that wouldn’t come to a halt anytime soon.  
Meanwhile physically he just stood there and nodded dumbfounded, gave Keith the ‘you got it’ finger guns before he drove away.  
Then he turned towards the school entry on the other side and shook his head.

Well.

How the fuck did the butterflies find their way into his stomach? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell us more about those butterflies, lancey


	4. Turn It Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> keith needs a second helmet, i know.  
> 

###  **Turn It Off**

 

 ****Lance McClain wasn’t gay.

That wouldn’t make any sense, he told himself.  
Also, he had a crush on Allura last year.  
(so he might be bisexual, a voice said)  
Well, that wouldn’t make any sense either, he repeated. Why not, you asked? Because d’uh, obviously. That’s why.

Lance McClain most definitely didn’t have a crush on Keith Kogane. Lance was 19 years old, he would have known if he was gay, thank you very much.  
(bisexual, the voice whispered)  
He would have known, he assured himself.  
Reconnecting to a very dear friend felt good, sure. Exhilarating even. And that’s what he felt. It was a friend thing. Like, without romantic feelings.  
And the songs he listened to were just songs.

 _And all my walls stood tall, painted blue_  
_I'll take 'em down, take 'em down_  
_And open up the door for you_  
_And all I feel in my stomach is butterflies_  
_The beautiful kind makin' up for lost time_  
_Takin' flight, making me feel right_  
_I just want to know you better_  
_Know you better know you better now_

One week had passed since Lance had saved Keith’s life. (Twice.)  
Keith had dropped him off at school. And Lance had felt – something. And this something had followed him all week. And had slowly gotten bigger, constantly growing like a rock in his chest he couldn’t ignore or shake off.  
And Lace had tried, alright. But his life wasn’t a Taylor Swift song, no matter what his favorite playlists tried to make him believe.

They were friends. Getting back together. Restarting their friendship. Which was nice. Thrilling! They drove around on the bike, stopped at places they had visited as children, far away from the people who were after Keith and his non-existential money, just to talk.  
Keith continued to refuse to talk about the gang.

“I’m gonna figure it out, I told you. I am working on it,” he assured him. “She won’t follow me again for now, okay?”

And Lance believed him.  
No time-reversing had happened. No one had died. It had been a good time.  
The week went by and Keith became a part of their group. Which was also nice. Though he’d rather be alone with him, Lance thought.

They spent the Sunday afternoon in the diner again.  
Lance felt weird to be back in the Two Whales. He had avoided to get back here. But now he sat next to Keith in their booth, Hunk on the other side. Pidge had some homework to do so they had stayed back in Blackwell.

Hunk and Keith were deep in a conversation about the current fish market situation (apparently they both read the local news). Keith was still mostly shy and reserved with Pidge and Hunk – or any other person for that matter, except when they were alone. The reactivated childhood bond had brought back pieces of a younger more trustworthy Keith.

Lance himself didn’t quite follow the conversation. He was too busy being aware that Keith sat very close to him. That their arms sometimes brushed. And that he just wished, oh, he just wished to put his head against Keith’s shoulder. This wish was so urgent, it distressed him deeply. What purpose would it even serve? It didn’t make any sense. He felt the rock in his chest growing bigger, mocking him.

Lance tried to push all these thoughts aside.  
This couldn't be happening.  
These couldn’t be gay thoughts. He would have known sooner. This was friendly affection.  
That’s what it was.

“Since Zarkon Galra has bought the harbor right, nothing’s the same anymore,” Hunk explained. “Shay told me the local fishermen have a pretty rough time. They talk to her quite a lot.”

“The Galras destroy this town more and more,” Keith sighed. “I’ve lived here all my life, I know that. On the surface, everyone just sees the massive donations but in reality, they’re not donations but payment for services. They buy this town piece by piece and transform it to their wishes.”

“I’m with you on this. Did Lance tell you about the contest during the annual fundraising festival next month?”

Their attention was briefly directed at Lance who looked confused at them.

“What?”

“No, he didn’t,” Keith said.

“What didn’t I do?” Lance asked.

“This year every student has to do a project,” Hunk said, completely ignoring Lance who tried his best to get back into the conversation now that he had been mentioned, “and it’s about telling stories about heroic actions of someone. And guess who’s Lotor’s pick.”

Keith huffed.

“His father.”

“Obviously.”

“I hate this prick even more since I know he’s the reason you got kicked out of high school,” Lance contributed.

“This is so awesome by the way,” Hunk said. “I mean,” he quickly retracted, “not the part with you getting kicked out. Usually I don’t support violence but I’m happy to make an exception with Lotor. So on behalf of Blackwell: thank you for punching him. Totally worth it.”

Keith gave him a light smile but then furrowed his brows and looked thoughtfully outside the window.  
“Not sure if it had been worth it in the long run, though.”

Hunk gave Lance a helpless look. Lance shrugged his shoulders in response.  
“Hm, I’m gonna get, some, uhm,, cake,” Hunk said nervously and sneaked out of the booth, leaving Lance and Keith back.

“If I hadn’t broken his nose, I could have finished high school,” Keith continued, still looking outside. “And maybe...ah whatever.” He turned back to Lance and shrugged. “The past is the past.”

“Yeah, it’s all about the future, man” Lance rambled wow wise words but Keith smiled.

“Speaking of the future, do you wanna hang out tonight?”

“Sure.” Like, wasn’t that already what they were doing right now? “I can show you the dormitory if you want?”

“Yeah, that’d be cool”, Keith said.

They waited for Hunk to get back but he talked to Shay at the counter. Keith raised an eyebrow and looked at Lance.

“Yeah,” Lance said, “he’s gotta crush on her.”

“Are they dating?”

“No, Hunk’s too scared to ask her out and I don’t know about Shay,” Lance sighed. “And Pidge said I wasn’t allowed to do any wingman action because it would most definitely suck. Their words.”

Keith tilted his head.  
“So you’re not allowed, I understand and support this decision. (“Hey!”) But Pidge didn’t say anything to me.” His eyes sparkled. “Get up.”

“Wait, what are you doing?”

“Ah come on, Lancey Lance, trust me,” he said and pushed Lance out of the booth.

They walked up to the counter next to Hunk.

“Hey Shay,” Keith said nonchalantly.

“Hi Keith, what have you been up to?” Shay said with a smile. “How are you?”

“I’m good but, help me settle a bet, please: what’s the more fascinating animal: whale or dolphin?”

Hunk stared at him, his eyes switching between Keith and Lance. He knew something was up. He’d only known Keith for a couple of days but was absolutely sure he wasn’t the kind of person who initiated small-talk.

“Whales of course,” Shay answered immediately, lovely as she was. “Or I would have started a petition to rename the diner in Two Dolphins.”

Hunk chuckled.  
“Yeah, I agree, whales are cooler,” he said, glancing at Shay who smiled.

Keith turned towards Lance.  
“Looks like you lost the bet.”

“What? I don’t, I--”

“I told you whales are more popular than dolphins.”

Of course, only Keith would put him into a situation where he had to admit he had lost a non-existential bet.

“I mean, yeah. Damn, Keith, you won. Congratulations.”

His words earned a bright grin of Keith and okay, he would lose every bet to him if he would just keep smiling at him like this.

Shay regarded them curiously.  
“So? What did you bet about? Spill it.”

Keith looked at Lance. Very long.  
“Oh, that’s top secret,” he finally said, his eyes still on Lance.

Lance wanted to low-key die. Which was a very extreme reaction to Keith looking at him, Lance wondered briefly. His cheeks started to burn and he prayed he wasn’t blushing. Who even invented this unnecessary body reaction?

“But speaking of whales,” Keith continued and averted his eyes from him, “you know the new whale museum down in Fall’s Creek?”

“Oh yes, I heard about it,” Shay said excitedly.

“They finished putting up the big whale skeleton last week,” Keith told her.

“No kidding! Dewey is the best part. Keith and I visited the old museum during a school trip in 8th grade,” she explained to Hunk.

“And Shay wrote an essay about Dewey in biology,” Keith added.

Shay laughed loudly  
“Oh my God, you’re right, I did.”

Meanwhile Hunk had tried his best to communicate with Lance in a subtle non-verbal way but you can’t communicate with someone who stared at Keith Kogane without blinking.

“Hunk,” Keith suddenly said, “have you been to the old whale museum?”

“Uhm, nope.”

“What?” he said appalled. “Shay, how did you let this happen?”

“Wh-what?” she chuckled.

“You’re friends with someone who hasn’t seen Dewey!”

She gave Hunk a warm smile.  
“You’re right, that needs a correction asap.”

Hunk started to blush.

“You could take Pidge as well, they have to see it, too, it’s Arcadia Bay tradition. And Shay, maybe your friend will come, too?” He pointed at the other waitress in the diner.

“Oh, this is a nice idea, I’d love that,” she said. “Thanks for the idea!” Both Hunk and Shay beamed at him.

“Just doing my Arcadia Bay tourist info duty. Lance and I are heading back, is that okay?”

“Yup, go ahead,” Hunk said.

Lance gave Hunk a low-five under the counter and a subtle pat on the shoulder.  
“Don’t do anything I--”

“Come on, Lance,” Keith said loudly and gave him a nudge towards the exit.

“Bye!”

 

The sun was slowly setting when they left the diner, everything was orange and the autumn smell was heavy in the air.

“Dude, that was awesome,” Lance exclaimed and excitedly hobbled next to Keith on their way to the bike. “Your wingman skills are beyond excellent. You should do this professionally.” Lance had never seen Keith taking the reins like that in a conversation before and wow, okay, that was pretty-- new.

Keith laughed.  
“I happen to know Shay from school. She’s nice. And I watch a lot of movies and TV shows.”

“Ah, don’t be so modest,” Lance said and punched his shoulder, “I watch tutorials on YouTube and wikiHow is my go-to page and I wouldn’t be able to come up with stuff like that.”

“I’m just glad I could help.”

“But one question,” Lance said when they arrived in front of Keith’s bike. “Why did you invite Pidge and Shay’s friend? Shouldn’t it supposed to be a date?”

Keith gave Lance the helmet.  
“Oh no, they will date when they want to and when they are ready for it. I just wanted to give them an opportunity to meet outside the diner.”

“But – with Pidge??”

“Lance. I won’t put them into a situation without any backup. What if Shay doesn’t want to be alone with Hunk? Or Hunk with Shay? Now the plan is four people visiting a museum. It’s up to them to not invite the others.”

“Ah. That is very smart and awfully considerate.” And really sweet. “What movies do you watch?”

Keith huffed.  
“If movies taught this behavior, the world would be a better place. No, that’s called common sense. Also,” he added and sat down on the bike, “do you know how awkward it is to be alone with your crush?”

Lance fumbled around the helmet.

“Uhm, yeah. Pretty awkward.”

“Yeah.” By the love of this universe, Lance couldn’t look up, he kept fumbling.

“Are you coming or what?” Keith asked. Finally, Lance looked up.

Keith didn’t look suspicious at all, thank you world. Lance's knees were unexpectedly weak but he managed to take his seat behind his friend and put on the helmet. Everything would be much easier if his body and mind wouldn’t mistake his friendship feelings with crush feelings, Lance thought. And the rock in his chest absorbed this input and got bigger.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and yes, some chapter titles as well as the fanfic's title are musical songs. shout out to my fellow musical people. (groundhog day deserved better!)


	5. Double Event

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content notes: temporary death, gun shots

###  **Double Event**

 

Only a few students were still on campus. It has gotten too cold to sit at the tables outside and do homework but a few of them had brought extra blankets and drank hot beverages from a thermos bottle. It looked cozy, Lance thought.

“Technically I am not allowed on Blackwell Academy and its premises,” Keith said on their way towards the dormitory.

“Why? Because you got expelled?”

“Yes, that goes hand in hand at Blackwell.”

Lance grinned. “So you’re breaking the law to see my room?”

Keith wickedly put his tongue between his teeth. Jeez. “Practically.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Lance said and waved his hand, “I know the security guard.”

“You do?” Keith suddenly sounded interested.

“Yes! He will let you through, I promise. He helped us a lot of times. He’s a good egg.”

Keith chuckled.

“What?”

“A good egg?”

“He is, don’t look at me like that. Shiro is one of the good one’s in this forsaken hell of Galra’s Arcadia Bay. Even though he works for the enemy. So don’t worry. I’m gonna protect you from him.”

Keith stopped him with a soft touch at his chest. “Wait, what now? Is he a good one or do you have to protect me?” he asked, not being able to hide his amusement.

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Yes. Because you’re rambling.”

“Orr. Yes, he is the best person on campus and secretly working for us but you never know if he might switch sides and pledge loyalty to Iverson and the dark forces of Arcadia Bay. So, both.”

Keith pressed his lips together, clearly suppressing another grin.

“What now Keith?” Lance asked weary.

There was a brief silence.

“You’re cute when you’re rambling.”

Lance let out a nervous huff.  
“Shut up.”

Keith laughed and they continued their walk across the campus.

If Lance’s thoughts had made a noise, it would have been the sound of a derailing train.  
Who had given Keith the right to say things like that? What did it mean? Did he really think he was cute? Then again, Lance himself had called his friends cute or had given them other compliments so it was possible it was just a nice, you know, friend thing. He probably was just over-analyzing things the way one did when one had a cr-- no. Not that. When one had got back to a long lost friendship, yes. That one. The rock in his chest started to scare him though.  
Lance’s derailing train of thought got braked by Shiro who stood at the entrance of the dormitory area of the campus.

“Hey Lance,” he said. Then he gave Keith a weird look.

“Hey Shiro,” Lance waved at him and was about to drag Keith past him when--

“Lance.”

He turned around.  
“Yes?”

“No visitors allowed.”

Shiro stood in front of them, buff and intimidating. He wasn’t usually like that, Lance thought and gulped. Where was the fun Shiro?

“It’s not a visitor, it’s just my friend.”

“Who visits you.”

“Kind of.”

“Which makes him a visitor.”

“Visitor, schmisitor, that’s just a technicality.”

Shiro raised his eyebrows. “You know I have to tell the principal you broke the school rules, right?”

Lance’s mouth fell open.  
“WHAT?”

“Let’s go,” he took Lance by his shoulders and turned him around towards the main building. “He’s still here, so we better go now.”

Lance was so shocked, he actually started walking. Then there was a soft giggle.

“Shiro, come on.” Keith.

Lance turned around.

Keith grinned like the funniest thing on this planet just had happened. Lance looked at Shiro. Who laughed.  
“Sorry Lance, couldn’t resist.”

“What is happening?” Lance asked confused but also relieved. “Do you know each other?”

“He’s the friend I told you about,” Keith said.

Now Shiro was the confused one.  
“Wait a second, you are Lance?”

“Dude, you know my name.”

“I mean,” Shiro turned towards Keith, “he’s your Lance?”

It was a blunt question and Lance’s heart beat fast. What a wonderful combination of words. Textbooks should use this example to teach possessive pronouns. Lance’s eyes darted to Keith. He was also visibly taken aback by Shiro’s direct question.

“He’s my friend from years ago, yes. So, if you don’t mind--” He pointed behind him at the dormitory. Shiro smiled at him, then at Lance. “Can we go now?” Keith was very tense, like he just wanted to break through the hedge and make a run for the dormitory.

“Alright,” Shiro finally said. “Have fun. But no slumber party, are we clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Lance said and saluted.

Keith rolled his eyes. “Let’s go, Lance.”

~

Lance was about to open the door to his room when the opposite door opened.

“Hey guys,” Pidge said with some towels in their hand, apparently on the way to the shared bathroom.

Suddenly Lance felt weird. Yes, again. That he was about to bring Keith into his room, like, sneaking him in.

“Hi Pidge,” Keith said back.

“Good night, Pidge,” Lance said pointedly and opened his door.

“So,” Pidge continued and Lance sighed internally, what now? “I heard you played wingman for Hunk.”

“Uhm,” Keith hesitated, “yes?”

Pidge regarded him from head to toe. “I’ll allow it.”

“Thank you?”

“Seriously dude, I think you’re a good influence on Lance, he desperately needs more of us.”

“Okay Pidge, go to bed,” Lance said and roughly pulled Keith inside and he knew how that might have looked but he couldn’t deal with Pidge’s comments right now. Keith almost stumbled inside.

“Woah, easy Lance.”

Lance quickly locked the door. Then he heard Keith laugh and turned around.

“What’s so funny?” Keith shook his head, looking guilty.

“Nothing.”

“No, come on,” Lance whined, “what did I do this time?”

“It’s nothing, I just...nothing.”

Wait a second. Did Keith blush?  
“Are you blushing?” he blurted out. Wow Lance, nice one. If Keith hadn’t blushed before, he definitely did now.

“I wanted to make a joke but, ah, never mind. It’s not even funny.”

“Dude, now you gotta tell me.”

Keith started studying the room, the desk, the little shelf with books. His eyes went everywhere but Lance.  
“When you dragged me inside and I almost fell and you locked the door so fast, that was kind of funny. And I was about to ask ‘are you gonna seduce me or kill me’. So that’s that.”

Now Lance was the one who blushed. For whatever reason. Pull. Yourself. Together. He forced himself to a fake smile.  
“Very funny, Mr. Kogane,” he said flatly. Meanwhile his astral body had fled to Pidge mouthing an O-M-G at them, begging for help.

“I told you it wasn’t funny.”

“I give it a 5 out of 10.”

“How generous, Mr. McClain.” The tension deflated and they were soon back to normal.

Well, the blushing had gone but Lance still wasn’t over anything that had happened. First Keith had called him cute, then he had joked about seducing him, like, this is Keith. They had made shadow figures with their hands during sleep-overs when they were young. That Keith. They had found a lost puppy on the beach and Keith had brought it back home, asking his mother if he and Lance could keep it. That Keith. They had made like a dozen pinky swears to be best friends forever, one time even with blood and Lance had cried and Keith had said he was sorry every day for at least a week. That Keith. But this Keith in front of him wasn’t 9 years old, he was 19 years old. The rock in his chest judged him harsh and grew. It was some serious time for some serious change of topic.

“Where do you know Shiro from?” Lance asked and settled down on his bed.

“Oh, it’s a long story,” Keith said and sat down on the chair.

Lance waited.

Keith stared at him.

“Dude?”

“What?”

“Start talking, maybe?”

“I said it’s a long story.”

Lance rolled his eyes.  
“Then pretend I have a bucket of popcorn,” he said and shoved an imaginary handful of popcorn into his mouth, "and 3D-glasses."

“Alright,” Keith said and looked slightly uncomfortable. “You know I got into supervised living when I was 16.”

Lance nodded. He remembered this conversation too vividly.

“Right, so Shiro was one of the caretakers at that time.”

Lance dropped his head and stared above the pair of glasses he wasn’t wearing.  
“You call this a long story?”

Keith shrugged.  
“It's probably not but, you know. He was there when I left my foster family and when I got kicked out of school and,” he looked at Lance, “he was always there for me. So it’s not a long story to tell, alright, but it is to me. He’s the closest thing I have to a family. I mean--”

Lance nodded wildly and interrupted him.  
“No, absolutely, I get it, man.”

“Okay,” Keith said and Lance could tell they both wanted to move on from this topic as fast as possible.

“Can I ask you something?” Something had just dawned him.

“Yeah?” Keith said.

“The ten thousand dollars.”

Keith looked at the ground and Lance knew. He knew, alright.  
“Yeah,” he confirmed before Lance even had a chance to say it out loud.

“They were for Shiro’s operation, weren't they?”

“The insurance didn’t cover everything,” Keith explained, both sadness and anger in his voice, “and it wasn’t fair. When the wildfire took over last May...it was literally hell on earth. And Shiro was like, everywhere. Helping. All the time. And then he got wounded and they had to, you know, amputate his arm. The insurance was like, nope, and I was so angry. I had earned some money when I worked with the Blade of Marmora the year before - that’s the gang’s name,” Keith elaborated. “And considering everything he had done for me, and also Arcadia Bay, I wanted to repay him somehow. Because no one else did. So I donated most of my money, well, and some more, obviously.”

“And he accepted it?”

“It was an anonymous donation.”

“Oh,” Lance said.

“That’s really nice, Keith.” He gave him a little smile. “But you shouldn’t put yourself in mortal danger for others, not like this.”

“It was maybe a bit reckless,” Keith said and squinted one eye.

“Like, the life-threatening kind, yes,” Lance agreed and mimicked Keith's eye-squinting. “But it’s over now, right? You being followed?”

Keith nodded. “Absolutely. I talked to Ko-- I shouldn’t say any names. I talked to my former boss and it’s over. There’s only a small amount of money left and he waived it for all the work I’ve done before.”

“What kind of work was that by the way?”

“I delivered stuff. Like, a courier.”

“What kind of stuff? Drugs?”

“I don’t know. Didn’t ask.”

“Jeez. Keith.” Lance raised his eyebrows and whistled. “You’re were involved in some gangster shit, holy moly. So Shiro never knew where the money had come from?”

“No. And,” he looked intensely into Lance’s eyes, “I want to keep it that way.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Lance said weakly, feeling overwhelmed by this intense look, “cross my heart and hope to die and whatever the cool kids say these days.”

“Thank you.”

They were quiet for a moment. Then Lance clicked his tongue.

“Okay, do you wanna play Nintendo?”

“You still have the SNES? Oh my God, yes!”

~~

“So, then Shiro is the owner of the cabin?” Lance asked.

They sat next to each other on the ground and were playing Donkey Kong Country 3.

“Actually it belongs to his partner. He usually rents it to tourists.”

“Shiro?”

“No, Adam. His partner.”

“Ah.”

Shiro is gay.  
Gay. Gay. Gay.  
Lance accidentally ran Dixie Kong into a bee.

“Oops.”

Keith eyed him askance from the side.

“So Adam is in the hotel business?” Lance asked as natural as possible and watched Keith playing the rest of the level on his own.

Yes, he was surprised to learn that Shiro had a male partner but not because the existence of gay people was new to him or bothered him, not at all. It was…he couldn’t quite tell what it was that threw him off. (maybe because you have these confusing thoughts lately, the little voice helped, and you just got confronted with-- shut up, Lance said and the rock in his chest hurt a bit.)

“No,” Keith said, “Adam works for – and don’t yell at me – he works for the Galra foundation.”

“WHAT?” Lance yelled at him.

Keith rolled his eyes but changed into a smile. “I know how it sounds. Wasn’t there a bonus level on the--”

“Don’t change the topic! This is the worst,” Lance said, actually happy he had a new topic to put his energy into, “I told you we should be careful around Shiro and now you tell me he’s in a relationship with the enemy?”

“Adam is a good person, a good egg, as you would say,” Keith assured him, "he’s probably the reason this town still exists. He’s one of Zarkon’s new lawyers and confidants.”

“Wow, that doesn’t sound suspicious at all.”

“I vouch for him.”

“If you say so.”

There was a brief period of silence, then Keith ended the level by making Kiddy Kong jump on the bullseye.

“A balloon, nice!”

“Fun fact,” Keith said and put down the controller, “did you know they hired Shiro because the former security guard was too afraid to break up the fight between Lotor and me?”

Lance started laughing. “Is this true?”

“Shiro told me.”

“This is hilarious, Kogane.”

“I know, McClain.”

 

Soon they got back into their old rhythm and talked about everything and nothing. The Nintendo controller lay lost on the ground, only the menu music was playing on minimum volume in the background.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Lance said, “Veronica got engaged last month.”

Keith turned around the chair, looking at Lance lying flat on his back on the bed.  
“You’re kidding. Veronica?” He laughed and Lance saw his eyes shimmer with happiness. “Our little Veronica will get married, this is the news of the year. Who’s the lucky girl?”

Now it was Lance who got up and turned around to him, eyeing him suspiciously.  
“How did you-- did you know she was gay? She only came out like four years ago. I didn’t tell you, at least I can’t remember.”

“Oh.” Keith spun the chair around in circles, avoiding Lance’s eyes. “She told me.”

“I didn’t know you had contact with her after...”

“No, I didn’t. I mean.” He stopped the chair from spinning. His eyes flickered back to Lance whose gaze pressed on him. “She told me here, in Arcadia Bay.”

Lance’s mouth fell open. “When?”

“The summer you left.”

“WHAT? That was before she even said a thing to me,” Lance exclaimed.

“She was very scared how you’d all react.” Keith’s voice had dropped to a minimum. “She didn’t know anybody else who was gay.”

“So she just talked to you? I’m the most supportive brother ever, I can’t believe it.”

“That decision isn’t about you, it’s about her and whatever felt right for her at that time.” Keith’s tone had shifted into something colder and Lance felt like he was missing something here, something he should know.

“You’re right. For whatever it’s worth: I’m glad she told at least one person. Had to be pretty hard.”

Considering what kind of weird thoughts he went through himself right now, he added in his mind. Lance was 19 and couldn’t quite handle these confusing thoughts and Veronica had only been 15 years old back then. He didn’t want to dwell on this issue. He had promised himself to not drag Keith down with him and this spiral where he played ‘gay or not?’ every time he was with him. Or thought about him. Because Lance wasn’t gay, obviously. Anyway.

“Also her fiancee is pretty awesome,” Lance continued, “I can show you some pictures later.”

“I’m happy for her,” Keith said curtly. Then he got up. “It’s late, I gotta go now.”

“What? It’s not even 10!”

What’s up with Keith now, Lance wondered. Did he say something wrong? Had it been the way he had reacted to Adam? Or Veronica trusting Keith over him? Shit.

Keith gave him a long look.  
“I have some errands to run in the morning, so.” He took his jacket and checked for his keys. “I catch up with you later.”

“Okay then. See ya.”

Keith closed the door behind him and Lance rolled around, looking at the chair his friend had just sit in. He had done something wrong, hadn't he?

A sickness arose in his stomach.  
This reminded him way too much of their fight on Skype when they were 16. He took a deep breath and rolled on his back again.  
It had come out of the blue. One evening in winter Keith had asked him via text message if they could Skype. Lance had agreed, even though the question had confused him. Their last contact at that time had been a short happy birthday message from Keith to Lance in July. They had already been drifting apart.

\--

He remembered the moment Keith’s face had appeared on his computer screen. He had looked older (which was weird) and he had looked devastated (which was worrisome).

“Hey.”

“Hey. Long time no see,” Lance had said. It had been so awkward. “You have snow in your hair.”

“I just got in. They are going to kick me out.” No how are you, no small-talk, just straight to the point.

“What? Why?” Keith’s foster family had always been good to him, at least the years until Lance had to move away.

“Doesn’t matter. Guess they’re sick of me. They never adopted me so it had been temporary from the beginning. Although I thought I could stay with them until I turn 18 or something.”

“But what now? Where will you live?”

“We filed some shit so that I can live alone with 16. Like, supervised living or something. I get my own room. No big deal.”

Big deal enough to call me after months of silence, Lance had thought he but hadn’t said it.

“Well, actually it sounds kinda cool, living on your own. You can do whatever you want, stay up late, eat all the candies,” Lance joked and smiled. He knew it had to be hard for Keith but he just wanted to cheer him up.

Keith had stared at him through the screen.  
“I’d rather have a family,” he said.

Lance leaned forward. “They can be annoying, you know.”  
Something changed in Keith’s eyes. It wasn’t a good change, Lance noticed.  
“But you have us, buddy,” he kept blurting out without thinking, anything to comfort Keith, “you have me. You’re basically a McClain. We are your family.”

Keith’s reaction was nothing like he had expected. There wasn’t anger, there was hostility in his eyes.  
“Family?” His voice was loud. “When did you ever act like family to me?”

Lance froze. They both did. Lance’s heart hurt like hell.

“That’s not fair,” Lance said evenly, no emotion in his voice because he hadn’t quite process this accusation yet.

Keith continued, his anger radiating through the screen. “I’ve been through some shit these last years and I was always on my own. Do you think that was fair? Do you want to trade? Cause I’d rather have an annoying family than none.”

“I didn’t mean it that way, man. Just, I don’t know, come to Cuba? You really are family, you’re like my brother, Keith.” The moment he said it out loud he regretted it.

Keith gasped loudly and got closer to the screen. “Come to Cuba?” he repeated. “You are fucking unbelievable. And no, Lance, I am not part of your family and I am not your brother,” he shouted, “never have been, never will be. My mother died, my father’s gone, you’re all gone.”

“I was thirteen when we moved, I didn’t exactly have a vote and you know that,” Lance retorted. This fight felt so wrong, so damn wrong.

“You’ve always just seen the good things, Lance. Just what you wanted to see,” Keith continued, less loud but still firm. “But you didn’t wanna see all the other things, right?”

Lance didn’t know what to say so he said nothing.

“You can’t just pick and choose what you want to see in a person, completely ignoring everything else.”

“Okay, wait,” Lance interrupted him. “I can’t follow you anymore.”

“Well, you don’t have to.”

“Keith, seriously, what are you talking about?” Something was about to escalate, again. But this time he had no idea what had triggered this reaction.

Keith leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. He looked uncomfortable, his anger was only a very thin shield now covering something else. Lance didn't know what that could be.  
“You know what that last summer meant to me,” he said quietly. “I gave you my lion.”

Lance knew that he waited for a reaction but – why is he talking about their last summer? Lance shuffled unsure in his seat.  
“And I gave you mine.”

They had exchanged their favorite childhood toys on their last day together.

“I asked you to write back,” Keith said, his voice strangely tense.

“I wrote you multiple times,” Lance said upset. “You were the one who stopped replying.”

Keith sat very still.

Then.

“You know what I mean.”

Lance did not know what he meant.

“You could have said anything, Lance, no matter what. Any reaction would have been better than none. But you’re just ignoring things you can’t deal with.” The anger came back. “You’ve always been that way. I was actually surprised you told me about your family’s moving plans at the beginning of the summer and not just one day before. Because that would have been more Lance-like.”

“Why are you so mean?” Lance asked. It sounded pathetic but that was how he felt.

“I’m just honest. But yeah, I forgot you can’t deal with that.”

“The fuck, Keith. I’m not responsible for you not having a family.” Lance, stop talking. This situation was already out of hands, he didn’t have to make it even worse.

“No, you’re not. Feel better yet?”

Lance stared at him and Keith stared back.

“We should probably hang up,” Lance said slowly.

“Agreed,” Keith said, leaned forward and disconnected.

It happened so fast, Lance didn’t even have a chance to stop him. Seconds later Keith was offline. And Lance put both of his hands over his mouth, looked up at the ceiling and whispered “Shit.”

Lance had been a mess after this but he didn’t say anything to his family.  
His thoughts kept replaying the conversation they had. Had it all been meaningless? Their friendship? Their close bond? All these years? Had it just been pretend for Keith? He had thought Keith had known how important he was for him. And for the McClains. But now everything had changed. Apparently it had meant nothing for Keith. They had never talked since then. 

\--

The present Lance took out his phone. He didn’t want it to be like that ever again.

 

lance: did I say something wrong?

 

Then he waited.

 

lance: I’m sorry if I did

 

Too pathetic? Probably.

 

lance: :(

 

He should probably stop. Someone knocked on his door.

“Come in,” Lance shouted. Please let it be Keith.

“Hey buddy,” Hunk said and waved at him, “what’s up?”

“Nothing, just, lying in my bed, busy being a disaster,” he said.

Hunk gave him a weird look but didn’t comment on that. “I see. Want some company? I was about to watch some reruns of the Great British Bake-Off.”

“Sure.”

Some minutes passed and he still stared at the open chat. Hunk had sat down on his chair and watched TV, commenting in between. He somehow felt that Lance needed some space right now.

Then.  
The chat said ‘keith is typing...’.  
Lance waited and waited and waited, dreading the message he was about to receive any second now.  
It had to be a long one, considering how long Keith was typing. His phone beeped.

 

keith: no we’re good

 

Seriously? That’s the message?

 

lance: u sure?

keith: yes

keith: I’m weird sometimes

keith: sorry

lance: you’re not weird

lance: :)

 

Thank God, it seemed to be alright, Lance thought. He was about to put away his phone when it beeped again.

 

keith: :)

 

“Hm?” Hunk said, “did you say something?”

Lance stared at him with wide eyes. Did he just make a sound? Because his heart most certainly had yelled something incomprehensible but it quickly got absorbed by the rock in his chest.

“No, nothing.” Hunk got back to his TV show and Lance stared at the little screen.

Why did a double dot and a close bracket make his heart jump? And made the butterflies in his stomach move wildly? That was just absurd.

 

keith: I’m still on campus

keith: talked to shiro

 

Lance sat up. Breathed in deeply. Typed quickly.

 

lance: do you wanna come back

lance: ?

lance: hunk and I are watching tv

lance: cooking show

lance: the british one

lance: they talk funny

 

A minute passed without an answer and Lance cringed more and more. He had overdone it again, hadn’t he? Too clingy, too much Lance being Lance. Then his phone ringed. Keith’s number was in the display. Okay? Lance picked up.

“Hey.”

“Lance,” Keith breathed. He was obviously out of breath. A hint of panic in his voice.

“Keith, what’s wrong, where are you?”

“I’m being followed. I’m in the parking lot.”

Lance got up from the bed and motioned Hunk to turn down the volume of the TV.  
“Followed? By whom?”

“She’s here. I don’t know why, I swear they told me I was out.”

“Okay, okay, okay. Come back to the dormitory.”

“I can’t, promise me you stay where – ah fuck. Gotta go.”

“Keith? KEITH?” Lance stared at his display that said ‘disconnected’.

“What happened?” Hunk asked and got up too.

Everything froze for a moment. Like in slow-motion Lance closed his eyes and tried to think about something to do. Hunk had to stay here, it was way too dangerous outside. Pidge was probably still in the main building doing extra work, hopefully safe enough. Keith was in the parking lot. Shiro carried a gun. Shiro. It was quarter past 10 pm. Usually he was around the dormitory area at this time. Maybe he’d catch him on his way to Keith. Because he definitely had to get to Keith as fast as possible.

“Hunk, stay here, don’t let anybody in but me or Pidge. Try to reach Pidge, tell them to stay wherever they are, inside the school,” he ordered him.

Hunk stared at him with big eyes. This kind of authority was something Lance usually didn’t wield but Hunk felt compelled to listen to his friend. “Okay.”

“Lock the door behind me and turn off the light,” he added and rushed out.

Lance ran. Through the dark dormitory. Outside. The cold air burned in his lungs as he sprinted along the paved way outside the dorm grounds. His eyes looked out for Shiro. He had to be somewhere here. A few lights let the campus shimmer orange. Seconds passed like hours and he was still running. No Shiro anywhere to be seen. With one hand he tried to dial Keith’s number again when--

“Ooouf.”

“Pidge!” He had run straight into his friend who had come out of the main building.

“Dude, that hurt,” they said angrily and straightened the straps of their backpack. Lance put his hand on their shoulder.

“Listen, you gotta run, hide in my room with Hunk, there’s a shooter on campus.”

“What?”

“They’re gonna kill him, I gotta go, run.” With a last pat on their shoulder he started running again.

He had only covered a few feet when he heard a very loud sound and he cowered down in shock.

A shot.

For a second he thought he had gotten hit, so loud had it been. But it hadn’t been in front of him.  
The shot had come from behind him. He got up and turned around.

No.

In the far background, there was a person dressed in black. With a black ski mask. Barely illuminated by the orange light of the lanterns. But where Pidge had stood only seconds ago there was now a body on the ground.  
Pidge’s body. Not moving, not even a bit. Lance couldn’t spot the entry wound from the distance but...it had to be there. With slow steps the attacker moved towards him.  
He could feel his heart breaking when he looked at Pidge one last time.

 

**Then everything went white.**

 

“Ooouf.”

“Pidge!” He had run straight into his friend. Oh God. It had happened again.

“Dude, that hurt,” they said angrily and straightened the straps of their backpack. Lance had never been happier to see their angry little face. He grabbed their hand and pulled them with him.

“Run, there’s a shooter.”

“Shit.”

Without talking they ran towards the parking lot. Lance didn’t let Pidge go, not one second. They were on the little staircase between campus and parking area when Lance could finally see Keith. He stood next to his bike, giving them a cautious little wave. Thank God he was alive.

“Keith, she has a gun, we gotta run,” Lance shouted.

“Get on my bike, both of you.”

They were on the last step of the staircase when the parking lot suddenly got illuminated by a bright light. A car had pulled up from the main street. Lance held Pidge back and pushed them into the bushes next to the stairs, his hand still holding theirs.

“KEITH!” he shouted and crouched down.

Keith didn’t move, he was literally caught in the headlight of the car.  
Just when Lance thought the car had passed by there was a shot.  
Lance winced and looked down on the ground in front of him.  
He couldn’t watch.  
No.  
Another shot.  
The car drove a round across the parking lot and back on the street into the night.  
Then he looked up again.

Next to the black-red bike, there was a body on the ground.  
When would this nightmare end, Lance thought. Pidge pulled themselves out of the bush, their hand still in Lance’s.

“Oh fuck,” Pidge breathed in shock. “Is he--?”

Lance didn’t say a word. Slowly he got up.  
Out of the blue, there was another shot.  
They turned around.

“Shiro!”

“I hit someone but they’re gone, they got into a car on the other side. Are you okay?”

They said nothing. Hand in hand they walked towards the body.

“Oh God,” Shiro said somewhere in the background.

When they were close enough, Lance came to a halt. Pidge shouldn’t have to see it.

“Whatever I do, it doesn’t stop. It just, it doesn’t stop,” he whispered. Pidge squeezed his hand.

 

**Then everything went white.**

 

Lance and Pidge were on the little staircase between campus and parking area when Lance could finally see Keith. He stood next to his bike, giving them a cautious little wave.

“What the hell?” Pidge screeched.

“KEITH COME HERE QUICK,” Lance yelled.

Keith hesitated only a second before he jogged over to them. Just in time. The parking lot suddenly got illuminated by a bright light. A car had pulled up from the main street.  
Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and pushed him, Pidge and himself into the bushes next to the stairs.

“Don’t move,” he whispered to them. And no one did.

The car drove a round across the parking lot and then back on the street into the night. Keith was about to crawl out of their hiding spot but Lance held him back.

“Wait.” No one said a word and they waited.  
A few seconds later there was another shot. Pidge and Keith jerked deeper down in the bushes.  
“Wait here, I’ll take a look,” Lance said, ignoring the quiet protest of his friends.

Up the stairs there was Shiro.

“Hey Shiro,” Lance said weakly.

“I hit someone but they’re gone, they got into a car on the other side. Are you okay?” Shiro had his gun still drawn but seemed to be unharmed.

Thank the universe.

At least one of them was hard to kill.

Pidge and Keith got up as well. Pidge was the first one to talk.

“Okay, WHAT THE HELL DID JUST HAPPEN?” they yelled, mostly at Lance.

“Is anyone hurt?” Shiro asked and jogged towards them. “Keith?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “We’re all fine. Just some cuts from the bushes.”

“YOU WERE DEAD!” Pidge shouted and pointed with their finger at him, “DEAD!”

“He isn’t dead,” Lance huffed. “That’s just the shock, Pidge.”

“I know what I saw, why are you not freaking out?” they asked Lance.

Keith eyed them strangely.  
“I'm not dead, Pidge. No one died tonight,” he said with a shaky voice.

Oh God, Lance had to talk to Pidge.  
In private. Immediately.  
He didn’t know how it had happened but they had traveled with him in time.  
Had it been the hand-holding?

“EVERYBODY QUIET,” Shiro shouted and they stopped talking, “go inside NOW.” He pointed at the school. “Wait in the hallway. I call the police.”

“Keith,” Lance said urgently, "you gotta tell him.”

“Tell me what?” Shiro asked alarmed. “What Keith?”

Keith shot a sharp look at Lance.

“I swear to God, you tell him right now or I do,” Lance insisted.

“Lance!”

“Shiro, Keith knows the shooter.”

Shiro put his hands on Keith’s shoulders and held him in place. “Is this true?” he asked him with a piercing look into his eyes.

Keith nodded defeated. “I do.”

“Alright, you tell me EVERYTHING you know,” he demanded with the most strict voice, “and you two GO INSIDE.”

Lance took Pidge’s hand and they hurried through the main entrance into the school’s hallway. The only light inside came from the lanterns outside through the windows in the front. They could see Shiro and Keith talking, very intensely, but they couldn’t understand a word.

“Lance,” Pidge said, their voice shaky but with all their might to stay calm, “I know what I saw, alright. And I know you’ve seen the same. Don’t mess with me.”

“Okay, okay,” he said and led them to the wall. He pulled them down right next to him. That was a conversation that required sitting and probably a therapist but the cold floor had to be enough for now. “What you saw happened for real,” Lance soothed his friend. “But Keith can’t know, okay? No one can know.”

Pidge stared at him in disbelief. “We traveled back in time? We really did that? Keith died and you prevented it?”

“Yeah,” Lance said, suddenly feeling even weaker. He hadn’t known how hard that burden had pushed him down over the last week. Had it only been a week since it had all started? “And first of all I’m glad you know. I would have told you sooner but I didn’t think you would have believed me.”

“You mean this wasn't the first time this happened?” Pidge asked terrified.

Lance shook his head. “No.” He took a deep breath and looked at Pidge. “The fourth time.”

Pidge eye’s widened. “Shit,” they whispered. “Shit.”

“Yeah,” Lance said and put his head back against the wall. “You can say that.”

It was all too much. He felt sick and wanted to vomit.  
To see someone die, to see the most important persons in his life die, that’s one thing. And a horrible thing.  
The other thing was to save them.  
Every time.  
To react within the few seconds that the time-reversing had given him, just to save them. He couldn’t make one mistake, one wrong move. Their lives literally depended on him.  
What if it had been the only chance to save them?

“How did it start? When?” Pidge asked.

The door opened and Keith walked in. He looked shattered.

“We talk later, okay?” Lance said quietly.

“Okay.” Pidge took his hand in theirs and put their head on his shoulder.

Keith sat down on Lance’s left side. “I told him.”

“Good.” Lance felt Keith’s eyes on him but he couldn’t bring himself to look at him. He couldn’t.

“Are you alright?” Keith asked.

No.  
Not at all.

“Yeah.”

It was too much. It was too much and it didn’t stop.

“No, you’re not.”

Lance finally turned his head around. Keith’s dark eyes looked at him fondly. Please don’t die again, Lance thought.

“You saved my life, Lance.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“He totally did,” Pidge whispered too loudly.

Keith smiled. “I’m glad you’re alive. You’re basically my personal superhero."

“Shut up,” Lance said.

He was too weak to raise the corners of his mouth to a smile but he felt his eyes relax when he looked at his friend. At the same time, he wanted to cry. The relief of the stress, the life-and-death-situations (plural), him saving Pidge and Keith in a row, he just wanted to cry.

Lance turned his face away from Keith.

Don’t cry, Lance.  
Then Keith took his hand and it was over.  
Silent tears streamed down his face and he closed his eyes.

Keith was alive.  
Pidge was alive.  
No one said a thing but hold his hands.

  
It had been a long night. The police and an ambulance had arrived soon and Shiro had done most of the talking. The cops had interviewed Keith, Pidge and Lance as well but it had been rather short. Everyone had declared they had no idea who the shooter had been. Pidge was the only one who really hadn’t known. And Shiro had covered for Keith. Meanwhile the school director Iverson had arrived, some journalists and at last Zarkon himself with a small entourage, since he was the co-owner of Blackwell Academy. Lance didn’t really know what they were talking about. He had sat in the back of the ambulance with a blanket around his shoulders. A paramedic had taken his blood pressure, checked the small cuts from the bushes and then he was good to go. Hunk had appeared and Lance had almost collapsed in his arms. It was all a blur but he remembered that Keith had hugged him goodbye. He remembered that. But he wished he wouldn’t have been so dizzy and weak and tired and exhausted. Someone had told him that they didn’t have to attend school the next day, probably Hunk. There was a cut in his memory and Lance had found himself in his bed, someone tucking him in. Also probably Hunk. Then he had fallen asleep and thankfully dreamed of nothing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg, pidge knows.


	6. Dear Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content notes: food, mentioning of death by car crash

###  **Dear Lance**

 

There was a knock and his door opened.

“Hey buddy,” a voice said. Hunk. Of course.

Lance grunted and turned around in his bed, facing his friend.

“Morning sunshine,” he mumbled and shielded his eyes with his hands. The sun shined bright into his room. His own voice sounded horrible, he thought. Hunk gave him a smile.

“How much is the clock?” Lance asked sleepily. “I mean, what...”

“It’s 3 pm,” Hunk answered.

With a jolt Lance sat up. The memory of last night had rushed back to him and had brought along the panic.

“Hey, hey,” Hunk soothed him and sat down on the edge of his bed. “Everything is fine, Pidge and Keith are fine, Shiro is fine, you are fine.”

Lance nodded and let himself fall back.

“Can you give me my phone, please?”

“If you promise to drink and eat something?”

“Promise.”

They didn’t talk much because Pidge had already told Hunk everything about last night. Well, almost everything. As promised they hadn’t told anyone about Lance’s ability to time-travel. Or to reverse time. Whatever the official term might be. (If there even was one.)

Pidge visited him later and they found some time to talk alone. He told Pidge everything. From beginning to end. Well, about the time-travel-issue. (Not the, you know, feelings. That weren’t actual feelings, so...anyway.)

The first time in the diner, the choice he had to make.  
Then Keith in the bathroom of the cabin. Though in retrospect he wasn’t quite sure if Keith had actually died after his head had hit the sink in front of him and Lance had found him on the floor.

“That’s something we still need to figure out,” Pidge said. “If you only have the power when someone is really dead or if you just think they are.”

"Well, I can't do it right now, it always just kind of happened."

Then the third time with Keith in the parking lot. The one Pidge had witnessed and experienced because they had held hands.

"You know what I'm wondering about. If it will have consequences. Messing with time like that, it's not natural. But wait, you said you did it four times,” Pidge pointed out, "but I only count three so far.”

Lance put a hand on their shoulder.

“Something else happened before the last one in the parking lot.”

“Okay,” Pidge said expectantly.

“Don’t freak out,” Lance said very very cautiously, “but--”

“I died, didn’t I?”

Lance breathed out.

“Yeah.”

“I got shot?”

“Shortly after I had run into you. The first time I told you to get back to the dormitory. The shooter came that way...”

“Damn. I knew it was weird when you hold my hand all this time,” they reflected. “You almost broke my fingers.”

“I just had seen you die so please cut me some slack, Pidge,” Lance said and Pidge bummed their shoulder against his.

“Thanks for saving my life,” they said and grinned. “You are, you know, pretty okay.”

“You too, little one.”

 

Talking to Keith was an issue though.

Telling Shiro about Keith’s past with the Blade of Marmora and his debts had come with some consequences.

Keith kept sending him some updates via text message from time to time.

 

keith: shiro is angry about the money thing

keith: adam too but I dont’ care

 

Both Shiro and Adam were trying to find a solution to this mess without involving the police.

 

lance: why is adam helping? he cannot be trusted #enemy

keith: he’s a lawyer and knows the gangs in the portland area

keith: that comes with the job description of being a galra guy

keith: #GoodEggAdam

 

And yes, Keith was 19 years old and couldn’t be grounded but Shiro had appealed urgently to his common sense. It was better to stay hidden before someone tried to kill him again. Which didn’t reassure Lance.

If he wasn’t around who else would save Keith?

They didn’t see each other all day.

Lance hated it.

~~

He went to class the next day. It was a Tuesday.

Everyone knew what had happened, of course.  
Some people asked questions, some of them made loud jokes in the hallway, Lotor the loudest of them all. Lance didn’t react much to anyone that day. Allura was the only bright light. All class long she stood close by his and Pidge's desk and Lotor didn’t have a single chance to say even a word without her noticing. He kept on checking his phone for new messages from Keith but he received nothing else than an “I’ll text you later”.

It was around 8 pm when he got a message that finally said something else.

 

keith: come outside

 

Lance basically threw himself out of bed.

“I’ll be right back,” he said to Hunk and Pidge who watched some TV show in his room.

“Say hi to Keith,” Pidge said with a smile.

He hurried outside.

It was dark and cold. On the other side of the yard, he could see Shiro and another man wearing glasses. Probably Adam. Keith waited right in front of the outside door.

“Hi,” he said.

It was so good to see him, Lance thought.

“It’s so good to see you,” Lance said and ignored the humming of the rock in his chest.

Keith smiled.

“Yeah, you too.”

“Do you wanna come inside? Pidge and--”

Keith shook his head and motioned towards Shiro and the other one.

“They won’t leave me out of their sight. That’s Adam by the way.”

“Okay,” Lance said and gave them a wave. They waved back. “What happened?”

“Well,” Keith began, “we went to see Ko-- ah damn, my old boss. The one who had lent me the money.”

“Oh wow.”

“Yeah. Funny thing is: he assured me he didn’t send anyone after me.”

“And you believe him?” Lance asked aghast.

“Actually yes.” His eyes flickered back to the two men. “He told me that, ah, can’t say names, the woman who attacked me doesn’t work for him anymore. Hasn’t been working for him for a while now."

“So we still don’t know who was actually after you?”

“We know who the attacker is but not the why and who she works for," Keith said. "Maybe she has an agenda of her own. But Shiro shot her, in her arm or shoulder, so she won’t be around for a while. I hope.”

“Guess I gotta keep you safe then for a little while longer.”

Lance didn’t know where this had come from. Well, yes, he did, but he hadn’t meant to say anything remotely like that. Also, it sounded way too flirty. Why would he even do something like that? But Keith just smiled, almost a bit shy.

“And I can keep my eyes on you, too.”

Lance pressed his lips together. Okay, that went surprisingly well. No awkwardness, not the bad kind. It made him feel a bit braver.

“Can’t you just come in for like a minute?” he kept on, “nothing will happen to you when you’re around me, I can promise you that.”

Keith shuffled his feet.

“You know, I actually believe that.”

Lance tried not to grin too wide but he did.

“I meant it, by the way," Keith added.

“What?”

“That you are my personal superhero." He tilted his head and the bangs on his forehead fell to the side. Ah.

Lance huffed.

“Don’t objectify me,” he joked.

Keith laughed.

“Oh, I don’t objectify you, just, a little.”

Lance actually didn’t know if that was a good thing or not but the way Keith said it was,, open to interpretation. In every way. Very confusing. Their friendship was weird, wasn’t it?

They heard a whistle. Shiro waved at them.

“I gotta go.”

"Do you really though?” Lance asked quietly.

Keith was visibly torn.

“I promised them, Lance.”

“No, you’re right. They’re probably right, too,” Lance backed down.

“So?”

“So…what?”

Oh, there it was, the awkwardness.  
How to say goodbye in front of a door.  
Lance had watched YouTube tutorials about this topic. But those videos hadn't been labeled with the word friendship.

“Nothing,” Keith said quickly, “I mean. I’ll text you when we found out about the attacker.”

Lance shook his head.

“No.”

“No?”

“Dude, you can’t wait to text me until you found the attacker, you gotta text me every second.”

Okay, wow, that came out way too strong. Reverse, reverse, reverse.

“Every second?” Keith asked and chuckled.

“Ah, don’t listen to me, I’m just--”

“Rambling?”

Lance locked eyes with Keith. Beautiful eyes. Beautiful face. Beautiful smile.

“I do that sometimes,” Lance said very slowly.

“I noticed,” Keith said also slowly, mimicking Lance.

Shiro whistled again.

“Okay, I really gotta go,” Keith said and bit his lip.

Lance didn’t know what to do. Should he hug him goodbye? Was that a thing? Keith had hugged him two days ago. And they had held hands. Okay, he had held hands with Pidge too and it had been the aftermath of a situation involving a killer and--

Lance couldn’t finish thinking because Keith stepped forward and hugged him.

Oh.

Quickly he hugged him back. That was way too brief.

“Bye Lance,” he said one last time, smiled and jogged to Shiro and Adam.

“Bye Keith,” Lance replied but Keith was already out of hear-sight. “Pidge said hi.”

He waved at the three of them and went back inside.

Ahh. He felt his cheeks flush. He really liked Keith, okay. Like, a lot.

~~~

Lance looked around.

He was in Keith’s old room. Back when his mother still had been alive. When he was 9 years old. But the furniture was different. There were posters from National Geographic on the wall, mostly featuring pictures of stars, planets and galaxies. There was a bigger bed. A desk with a computer. And there was snow outside.

He looked down at himself, at his hands.

“Okay,” Lance said slowly, trying to process what he saw. “I am younger.” He knew he was 19 in his mind but also...not really. He also felt younger in his head, not only body-wise. He felt surprisingly good.

He looked for a mirror but settled for the computer instead. His little blue lion toy stood on top of it. The wallpaper was a motorcycle driving on route 66 at night. His eyes fixed on the clock and the date in the bottom right corner. He did a quick count with his fingers.

“Sixteen,” he whispered. He was sixteen. But. He had been in Cuba when he was sixteen. He and Keith hadn’t had any contact except their happy birthday text messages. But then he remembered. They did have contact that year. In winter. He glanced outside again. Their huge fight on Skype.

But what had happened now? Did he travel back in time? Three years back? He tried to remember what had happened before he had turned up here but...it was blocked. He couldn’t remember. Had Keith died again?

Then he heard steps coming up the stairs in front of the door.  
The door opened.

Keith. A sixteen-year-old Keith.  
He wore some pajamas and a comfortable shirt and threw some outdoor clothes into a corner. And smiled.

And Lance said: “You have snow in your hair.”

Because Keith had snow in his hair.

“I did some heavy snow-shoveling, okay?” he said and wiggled his head like a wet dog towards Lance. “That’s for not helping me.”

Lance suddenly felt kind of dizzy. And really weird.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked and softly grabbed his wrist. (always with the wrist.) He looked so pretty, Lance thought, then he blinked rapidly.

“Yeah, just tired,” he said and quickly sat down on the bed, away from Keith. What is happening? His heart was racing, his stomach did somersaults. He almost felt like he was a teenager in love. OH.

Oh.  
Oh shit.

Keith yawned and stretched. Then he closed the door and locked it.

“Me too. And it’s still an hour before dad makes dinner so scooch over.” He pushed Lance further down on the bed, moved Lance’s left arm around his neck, put his head on Lance’s chest and they both lay back down.

What.

Keith took Lance’s free hand and locked their fingers together.  
Everything in Lance screamed.

Is this – a friend thing?  
That’s not _their_ friend thing.  
It could be a different friend thing.  
But it wasn't how he remembered their friendship to be like.  
Not at all.

They lay like this for half a minute before Keith turned his head up to him.

“Your heartbeat distracts me from falling asleep,” he said with a wide grin. “That’s rude.”

Lance looked in this dark eyes and boy…

He was so in love. And he was one thousand percent sure of it.  
He had never felt like this before in his whole life. Not with Allura and not even with his somehow-crush on Keith back, eh, in the other timeline. He was so head over heels, he could die right on the spot, it wouldn’t even matter.

“Sorry,” he whispered. Lance, concentrate on your time-traveling problem, please. “Can I ask you something?”

Keith turned around in his arms, his face even more close to his. Goddammit. It felt like Lance’s whole universe just lay in his arms right now, looking right into his eyes. Is this what being in love felt like? Because he didn’t want it to stop ever. There was no rock in his chest, not even a pebble, there was a warm light inside of him that wanted to wrap itself around Keith.

“Shoot.”

Concentrate, Lance.

“Where do I live?”

Keith raised an eyebrow.

“Eh, where you have lived all your life? Maxwell Mountain Road?”

Okay. They hadn’t moved to Cuba. Why not?

“How are my grandparents?”

Keith regarded him strangely.

“Abuelo was in hospital again and abuela is worried but it looks good for now.”

Ha, they hadn’t moved because his grandparents hadn't died. They were still managing their hotel on their own.

Keith bit his lip for a second, got up and sat down in Lance’s lap.  
Not good, teenage-Lance thought and pushed himself up on his elbows. One part of him wanted to push Keith aside and run away, the other part wanted to put his hands behind his neck and pull him down to him oh no Lance, no, you are not yourself yes you are yourself Lance--

“Ask me another one,” Keith prompted and tapped against Lance’s chest.

“What?”

“If we’re doing the Lance McClain quiz I’m gonna win. I know everything about you.”

That made Lance smile. Welp.

“What’s my favorite food in the Two Whales?”

“Starfish pancakes!” Keith said quickly and Lance couldn’t help himself, he laughed.

“I give you bonus points for how fast you said that.”

"But where can I redeem them?"

"I don't know," Lance rambled nervously, "the Lance McClain shop?"

Keith smiled. "Do I have enough to get a free kiss yet?" he said and leaned down to him.

Lance was absolutely sure he was about to pass out any second now. Especially when Keith put his hand in Lance's hair, grinned at him and--

“KEITH, I BROUGHT DINNER,” a voice yelled from downstairs and Keith jerked back.

Lance was finally able to breathe again. Which was unnecessary, he didn’t want to breathe, like, ever. His whole being was on fire.

“Ah, damn. He’s back early.”

“MOVE YOUR ASS BACK DOWN HERE.”

“COMING, DAD,” Keith yelled back. He stood up and picked up some socks from the floor to put on.

Don’t go, Lance wanted to say and tried to grab Keith’s hand but he was already too far away.

“I fucking hate him.”

Lance sat up on the bed.

“Why?”

He realized he knew zero about Keith’s dad. And ‘his’ Keith didn’t know anything either. This was his chance to solve some mysteries! Focus, Lance.

“You know why,” Keith said quietly, “and ever since his father died he’s become a complete maniac. I wished mom was still alive.”

Lance got up and hugged him tightly. It had been pure instinct for the sixteen-year-old Lance and the older Lance didn't fight it.

“Hey, I’m okay,” Keith mumbled in his neck but hugged him back. “At least he acknowledged me before I got into foster care. Probably needed an heir, whatever.” Lance felt Keith’s lips at his neck, his knees getting weaker and weaker. “You better sneak out the garage. I know he’s in a good mood but we shouldn’t tempt him. You know how he feels about us.”

Lance withdrew and looked at Keith. He didn’t want to go. Really. Did. Not. Want. To.

“Okay,” he finally said. “Good luck with your dad.”

Keith shrugged.

“Good luck to Arcadia Bay is what I say. My dad yielding the power of this area is the worst thing ever. I give it one week until he renames Arcadia Bay to Galra Bay.”

What.

Lance stared at Keith with wide eyes.

What.

“What’s your father’s first name?” he asked quickly.

“Zarkon, but...you already know that,” Keith answered with furrowed brows.

 

**Then everything went white.**

 

Okay, this was huge, Lance thought before he was even able to locate himself. He was lying in his bed. Back in Blackwell Academy. Okay. He had just traveled through time. No, he had just traveled into another universe, an alternate reality. This was getting out of hand.  
It hadn’t been a dream. It had been too real and it had been too similar to the other time's things like that had happened. Even though it had been different.

Calm down, Lance.

He sat up and crossed his legs. He had to remember everything.

From top.

Another universe.  
Back in time.  
His grandparents hadn’t died. So his family had stayed in Arcadia Bay.  
That was the change.  
They hadn’t died because...the car crash had probably never happened. Maybe they had left the house some seconds later than originally. Maybe abuela had seen one of her beloved butterflies and had taken a picture on the way to their car. And then the car that was about to crash into them was already gone when they arrived at the intersection.  
They hadn’t moved to Cuba.

Keith’s mom died. It had been a chronic illness so it had been inevitable. But where did his dad come from? Maybe Lance’s parents had done some research? Or Keith and Lance did? Weird.

And, hello, big news, Keith’s dad was Zarkon Galra. THE businessman of Arcadia Bay. No wonder Keith’s mom had never talked about him. Keith was – excuse his thoughts – a bastard of the most influential family in the Portland area. But that also meant that, oh God, Lotor was his half-brother. Did Lotor even exist in this alternate universe?

Lance closed his eyes, thinking really hard.

If the change were his grandparents being alive, then yes, everything before had happened the same way like in ‘his’ universe right now. So yeah, Lotor had to exist as well. He could have been in the room next to Keith for all that mattered.

But.

Lance opened his eyes. He felt like he was falling, falling, falling.

When everything.

(keith in his arms)

Was the same.

(the love he had felt)

Then.

(keith about to kiss him)

It means.

 

“I am gay,” he said slowly. “I am so very gay.”

(bisexual, the annoying voice auto-corrected)

The realization pressed down on him like a heavy blanket. A rainbow-colored one, wrapping itself around the rock in his chest. And suddenly Lance knew where that rock had come from and what it meant.

“I am gay, I am a bisexual, uh, gay kinda person.”

It felt weird to say it out loud. Scary words, even if he was only talking to himself. He turned around in his room, expecting some magical creature or talk show host to appear so he could try saying it to someone.

He offered his hand to the chair.

“Hi, my name is Lance and I’m gay. Bisexual, I mean.”

Weird. And it sounded like he was attending an AA meeting.

“Hi, my name is Lance and yes, I do like people of different genders.”

Not so scary, but way too formal.

“Hi, my name is Lance, I’m 19 and kinda gay and I enjoy traveling through time and space.”

He chuckled. Nope.

“Hi, my name is Lance and I really like you.” He did finger guns and winked at the chair.

“Ha! Better.” But still scary if he thought about who his fingers would point at.

Had he always been bisexual? And just didn’t notice? Or was it indeed something new? Would it even matter, Lance asked himself. He shrugged and decided it didn’t matter. He just – was like this now and that was what mattered. If it was even true. Just because he felt ‘something’ and said some words that kinda made sense, didn’t mean it was true. Right?

So Lance was probably [insert scary word] and Keith’s dad was Zarkon [also kinda scary]. That’s how the universe worked, right? Giving you all the shit to deal with at the same time. Oh, and he was able to time-travel through different universes, that too.

He had to tell somebody, somebody being Pidge. The clock said it was about midnight but heck, this was important. Lance had just opened the door to the hallway when he realized something else.  
Something else he had just learned.  
He slowly closed the door and sat back down in his bed.

Keith.

Keith was gay, too.

~~

In their first class of the day, Lance couldn’t stop staring at Lotor next to him. He had to check over and over if he saw any resemblance to Keith but no, nothing.

“Would you quit looking at me, McClain?”

“But you’re so ugly, it’s intriguing.”

Lance’s eyes wandered to a poster on the other side of the classroom. Zarkon Galra with some important people, Iverson and Lotor.  
Now that he looked at it closely, Lotor didn’t look like Zarkon at all. Zarkon had dark hair. Lotor had light hair. It was Game Of Thrones all over again.  
Lance tried to remember how Mrs. Galra looked like. He couldn’t remember.  
Wait.  
The other Keith had said something else. Something he had completely dismissed because Keith’s lips had been pressed against his neck, bless this universe.  
Lance felt a blush creeping up and he sank deeper into his chair.  
Concentrate, McClain.  
Keith had said Zarkon had probably only acknowledged him as his son because he had needed an heir.  
Lance looked back at Lotor.

What if Lotor wasn’t Zarkon’s biological son?

~~

Lance spent the day fighting on different frontiers.

There was Lotor who probably wasn’t the rightful heir to the Galra empire because Keith of all people was Zarkon’s only son. Probably. He couldn’t just tell Keith about it. So he would tell Pidge later. They were smart and maybe they were able to come up with a plan to validate this fact. Meanwhile he followed Lotor around. Which caused some problems with Lotor’s squad but since Lotor had learned that Lance was friends with the one who had punched him years before, he ignored Lance more often than provoked him.

Nice.

Then there was this other thing.

Him.  
Keith.  
Him and Keith, together.

His mind drifted back to their sixteen-year-old selves. Was this proof enough that Lance was gay, like, for Keith? Or in general? And Keith too?  
Lance wished his life was an RPG and he could just look up things like that in their character sheets.  
And of course they texted all the time.  
Which made Lance very very happy.

 

lance: english sucks, can u come and punch lotor? :D

keith: nope

keith: still in bed

lance: that’s mean

keith: even better > with breakfast

lance: capn crunch?

keith: yep

lance: i’m hungry

keith: when do you have lunch?

lance: 12 why?

keith: I am bored

keith: I could come over

keith: if you want?

lance: this is illegal mr kogane

lance: you are banned from campus!!

keith: the street is a public place mr mcclain

lance: i’m not allowed to leave the campus during class :/

lance: do you want me to get arrested?

keith: no

keith: parking lot?

lance: technically campus

keith: but also street

keith: I could have taken the wrong turn on my way to the golf club

keith: where I always go on wednesdays

keith: like everyone knows

keith: and could have ended up in the parking lot

keith: accidentally

lance: makes sense

keith: I adapted your rambling skills

keith: ;)

lance: :D

lance: bring food

keith: k

 

The morning passed by slowly.  
Lance checked his phone so often that he almost got caught by his biology teacher when he had taken a picture of a ball of paper he had thrown into Lotor’s hair in front of him.  
But finally it was noon and Lance sneaked outside towards the parking lot. The campus was almost empty since most of them went to the cafeteria for lunch.  
It was the first week of October and got cooler every day. Thankfully the sun was bright in the sky and did its best to warm the earth.  
To say Lance was nervous or excited to see Keith was an understatement.

The last time he had seen Keith was in the alternate universe he had ended up the night before for reasons unknown. An alternate universe where he had been without any doubt absolutely in love with Keith.  
Well, his sixteen-year-old-self had been in love with sixteen-year-old-Keith.  
But it had changed Lance’s view of himself – or certain part’s of himself – quite a lot.  
He was probably gay.  
Bisexual.  
Whatever.  
He probably had a crush on Keith. The nineteen-year-old-one. Who was leaning at his bike at this very moment and who smiled when Lance walked down the stairs between campus and parking lot. Lance got a quick flashback to the night where Keith had gotten shot at almost the exact place but he tried to shake it off.  
Not now.

He thought it would be different to see Keith, now that he somewhat had acknowledged that he wasn’t much straight after all. But it was the same.

“I didn’t have the heart to tell you that the golf course burned down in May,” Lance shouted at him when he hurried down the stairs.

“Oh no, I got out of bed for nothing, worst day ever,” Keith complained.

Then he held up a little paper bag and gave it Lance.

“I brought you starfish pancakes.”

Okay.  
Maybe Lance felt a bit different after all. Like a curtain got lifted. Not all the way up yet, but,, enough to see what was on the other side. And the rock in his chest had stopped growing.  
Lance beamed at him.

“Thanks. Hm,” he pointed at the other side of the parking lot, “bench?”

“Yeah,” Keith said and they walked over to sit down.

Lance glanced at Keith. Again and again. Then Keith caught his eyes.

“They’re still warm,” Lance said randomly and held up the bag with the pancakes, “that’s nice.”

Keith said nothing.

Oh God, was he rambling again? Wait. Was that a good thing now?  
They sat side by side and ate fresh starfish shaped pancakes in silence.  
Lance hoped it was the good kind of silence for Keith. The one where everything felt at ease and natural.  
Because it wasn’t that kind of silence for Lance.  
He tried to look at Keith without looking at him. Like. Just little subtle looks. Glancing sideways. Making his eyes hurt with all the squinting.

Lance wanted to push Keith’s bangs back so they didn’t block his eyes.  
And then just look at him.  
Like, properly.  
And see what happened.  
Inside of him.  
And see how Keith would react.  
Okay, scary thought.

Then Keith looked at him and Lance didn’t have a chance to look away before-- ah. Whatever. So he had just caught him staring at him.

“Do you wanna hang out later? Or are you busy doing homework?”

If he had seen it, he didn’t let it show.

“No, I’m free.”

Well, he did have a lot of homework to do but who cares? Lance most certainly did not.

“Cool,” he said, “you know...I think it’s...really awesome that we met again.”

He smiled at Lance and Lance felt a bit light-headed, tingly and weird.

“Me too.”

Then Lance remembered that Keith was probably gay.  
And that there was another universe where they were, like, a thing.  
And Lance realized that he.  
He kind of.  
He kind of wanted them to become a thing here too.  
(Say whaaaat.)  
His heart started beating faster.  
Texting each other all morning had been a lot easier than sitting next to each other in person.

“How much do you get for the pancakes?” Lance asked.

“Actually, nothing,” Keith said. “Got them for free.”

“Free food? Please tell me your secret.”

Keith looked at him.

“Shay asked Hunk out to the museum. On a date. And that was kind of her saying thanks.”

“She asked Hunk out? Why didn’t he tell me?” Lance said surprised.

Keith shrugged.

“Well, it had been some weird days and I’ve been kind, hm, out of it,” he said to himself and looked at his feet. “Probably wasn’t the right time.” He looked back at Keith. “That’s fine. Ah, this is great, Kogane, they are dating,” he said and bumped his shoulder against Keith’s.

The school bell rang in the distance and they got up.

“When do you want me to pick you up?” Keith asked.

“We’re going somewhere?” Lance asked. “You already made plans for us?”

Lance, stop.  
Keith stopped next to his bike.

“If that’s okay? I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Lance stared at him, he could hear his blood rushing in his ears.

“About what?”

Suddenly he was scared, so scared. Did he do something wrong?

“Ah, nothing bad or anything. Just, a thing,” Keith said and waved his hand.

“You can’t just announce something like that, I’m getting anxious, man.”

“I said it’s nothing bad, okay? Sorry?” Keith said and made an apologetic grimace. “Didn’t mean to make you anxious or anything.”

“Did I do something wrong?” Lance asked. He really should get back to class but this was more important right now.

“Well,” Keith said and pressed his lips together, “actually...” He stopped. "It's complicated."

“I can’t believe it,” Lance whined, “just tell me now and get it over with.”

“I’d rather talk to you when we have more time.”

“Just, argh, tell me the general topic so I can prepare myself mentally. Please?”

Keith nodded thoughtfully.

“Well, it’s about our last Skype call.”

Lance stared at him.

“Oh.”

He had expected everything, kind of, but not this. This was actually a thing they hadn’t talked about yet.

“Is that okay?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, totally,” Lance said.

“So, you still need to tell me when I can pick you up.”

“Uhm, around 5?”

“Alright.”

“Then, see you later.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

Alright, bloody brilliant, Lance thought when he was on his way back to class.

What did he have to expect now?

~~

School had ended late that day and Lance was back in his room at 4:30. He had another half hour until Keith wanted to talk to him.  
And Lance had to talk to someone else, too.

“Pidge, uh, weird thing happened last night,” he said casually after he had entered their room.

“What, Lance?” they said, their eyes fixed on the laptop as usual.

Lance took a seat on their bed.

“I traveled through time. Kind of. I traveled through time back into another universe.”

Pidge looked up from their laptop and slowly turned around.

“Repeat that.”

“I traveled back in time and space, I guess. Through space? I went somewhere. But it was here but also not here.”

Pidge got up from the seat and walked towards the bed. They poked him with a finger against his forehead.

“Swear you’re not joking.”

“I swear, Pidge, I do,” he said desperately. “You were with me when the other thing happened. You know it’s possible.”

“Damn.” They sat down next to him. “Tell me everything.”

“Alright, so--” Lance stopped.

Huh. Everything? Like. Everything-everything?  
Pidge waited.  
Pidge tilted their head to one side.  
Pidge tilted their head to the other side.

“So?”

Lance blinked rapidly.

“I was sixteen,” he began slowly, “and I was in Keith’s old room. We hadn’t moved to Cuba because my grandparents hadn’t died. I asked him that.”

“Oh, an alternate reality, that’s exciting. Continue.”

Lance coughed.

“Well, there was Keith, also sixteen, like me, uhm, obviously. We just, you know, hang out.”

“What did you talk about?”

“As I said, I asked him questions about this other reality. And, anyway, I found out something else and you won’t believe it. But you have to. Because I will tell you. But I will only tell you if you believe me. So we’re stuck in this circle of trust and--”

“Just spill it, McClain.”

“Zarkon Galra is Keith’s father.”

Pidge fell silent.

Then.

“Are you joking?”

“I told you I am not. I swear I tell the truth and nothing but the truth,” Lance said.

“Hang on, Keith is Lotor’s brother?”

“I have this wild idea that he’s not actually Zarkon’s son.”

“How come?”

“Because in this alternate reality, Keith said he was the only heir, pretty much. And there was no Lotor anywhere to be seen.” Lance looked up at the ceiling. “Well, he wasn’t in Keith’s room.”

Pidge stroked their chin.

“This is an interesting turn of events, Lance. And I am very curious.”

“I thought we might have a look at some birth certificates.”

“You could ask Shiro’s boyfriend.”

“Adam?”

“Yes. You said he works for Zarkon.”

“Pidge, the only interaction I had with Adam was us waving at each other across the campus. I can’t just ask him to search the Galra residence for some piece of paper that might not even exist.”

Pidge stared at him with a look in their eyes that meant they were already coming up with several plans. Lance looked at the clock.

“Listen, I gotta go. Keith picks me up in a few minutes,” he said and got up.

“Will you say something to him?”

“No,” Lance shook his head, “not until I’m sure about it. Or before I have a proper plan.”

Pidge nodded.

“Alright. I see what I can do.”

“Ah, you shouldn’t do this by yourself, I will help you later, I promise.”

Pidge smiled at him.

“You go and have fun, Lance. I like to investigate things, you know that.”

“You are gold, thanks.”

And off he went.

After a quick change into something warmer, he left the dormitory to meet up with Keith in the parking lot. The sun was on its way down and everything glowed in orange light.

“Hey,” he said, “so where are we going?”

The anxiety in his chest got stronger.

“You’ll see,” Keith simply said and gave him the helmet.

~~

They left Arcadia Bay and Lance soon had an idea where they were heading. He had spent his childhood here after all and knew the area well. His arms were wrapped around Keith and he wondered if Keith could feel what he felt. He hoped not.  
But he also wished he could.

Lance had guessed correctly.

After a 20 minute drive, they arrived at the parking lot near the lighthouse they had spent a lot of days during their childhood.

“When was the last time you’ve been here?” Keith asked when they walked up the path that led up to the lookout.

“Last year,” Lance said, “I showed it Pidge and Hunk. It’s still one of my favorite places.”

Although both of them had been to a lot of their favorite childhood places in the last week, they hadn't made it to the lighthouse yet. Keith had avoided this place as if it hadn't been the right time yet.

There were no other people on the cliff that late afternoon.

The lighthouse overlooked Arcadia Bay and the surrounding forest on the one side and the Pacific on the other side. Small waves crashed underneath them against the rocks. It was a soothing sound.  
The sun was slowly sinking into the ocean.  
They sat down next to each other on the bench and took in the picture.

“So, you wanted to talk to me,” Lance began after a while, “about the Skype thing.”

Keith nodded.

“I...said some mean things.”

“I did, too.”

They fell quiet.  
Keith wasn’t looking at him but the ocean. Then he put his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“I’m sorry for what I’ve yelled at you. You’ve always been family to me. Your parents and your siblings, too. I was just upset and angry that you were so far away, especially that day.”

He glanced briefly at Lance.

“I get it,” Lance said and also preferred to look at the ocean than into Keith’s eyes. “I’m also sorry about what I said. Everything. And I’m sorry we lost contact.”

“Yeah,” Keith breathed. “Me too.”

It wasn’t an easy conversation, as short as it had been, but Lance was relieved they had begun to talk about it. He didn’t want to have anything between them, he wanted to move on and--

“And,” Keith said slowly, fumbling with his hands in his pockets, “I’m sorry for the other stuff I said.”

Lance turned towards him. Keith shuffled his feet.

“About you ignoring, um, things.”

Lance remembered. Because he had never understood what Keith had meant with this accusation. But then, Lance thought, he had just accepted that he had done something wrong without actually knowing what it had been. Like he was used to. It hadn’t matter anymore, they had stopped talking, the damage had already been done.

Lance let him talk.

“I thought about it a lot and after a while, I thought maybe you really didn’t know what I was talking about. Although I hadn't believed it all those years. But then...”

Keith retrieved the red lion from his pocket. The lion Lance had given him back only a week ago.

“You gave it back to me. And.”

He looked at Lance. And his eyes flickered nervously over his face. He was almost scared. His hand turned the little toy lion around.

“I noticed...”

He tapped against the little lion’s belly.

“You never opened it.”

Lance stared at him with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“What?”

“You never opened the belly.”

Lance kept staring at him. His eyes wandered to the toy lion.

“What?” he repeated. His mind was blank, absolutely blank.

“The secret compartment?” Keith said. “We used to make jokes about it? Because it had been too small for anything to put into.”

Lance remembered. And he remembered that they had never used it when they had played with the lions. It had been a useless little gadget. Too small even for a shell or a decent sized stone.

“Oh,” Lance said because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Yeah,” Keith replied, “I put something inside. Before I gave it to you.”

Oh.

“A note.”

“I never opened it,” Lance finally said. His hands were suddenly cold.

Keith looked at him strangely. A bit sad, a bit relieved. But also anxious.

“That’s what I thought. Took me a while to actually believe it, though.”

“You could have told me to open it.”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“I...I needed you to find it by yourself.”

They looked at each other for a few seconds.

“Do you want me to read it now?” Lance asked carefully.

Keith averted his eyes and stared at the ground beneath his feet.

“Yes,” he said after a while. Then he gave Lance the red lion and their fingers brushed briefly.

“Your hands are ice, man,” Keith said.

“I’m scared as fuck, Kogane,” Lance said. Because it was true.

Keith shook his head, even smiled a bit.

“You’re not the one who’s supposed to be scared, I swear.”

Lance looked at him one last time, like he knew that something was about to change now.

Then he opened the little compartment. There was indeed a little note, a piece of paper. He got it out and started unfolding it.

“Um,” he said to Keith. “Do you want me to read it here? Like, right now?”

“Yep, just go ahead,” Keith said. He was one puddle of anxiety.

“Are you sure?”

“Read the damn note, McClain.”

And Lance unfolded it completely.

 

Dear Lance,

 

Lance took a deep breath. This was thirteen-year-old-Keith’s neat handwriting. His heart beat fast, his hands almost turned into ice, he was beyond nervous. Keith next to him kept staring at his feet. Just read it, Lance. Get it over with.

 

Congratulations on finding my note. I hope it didn’t take too long.  
When you read this, you will be in Cuba and everything sucks.  
This summer was the best summer ever. I wish it would never end. Maybe one day when we have finished school and you have come back we can have another awesome summer together. Or any other season.

I wanted to tell you something. And I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to you. It did for me so I understand if you are shocked, too.  
I like you a lot. You are my best friend in the universe. And in every other universe.  
Now the shocking part.

I also like you in a different way.  
My stomach does things when you are around me. When you smile at me.  
I want to hold your hand and put my head on your shoulder all the time.  
I haven’t felt like this before. Ever. I am sorry if this makes our friendship weird. It only started three months ago so please don’t worry about it. I'm sure it will go away someday.  
I told Veronica and she said I should tell you. She said you would understand. And I hope she is right.

Please write back to me. It’s okay if you don’t feel like I do. I just hope you are okay with it. Please tell me if it’s okay. If I’m okay. For you.

You will always be my best friend.

\- Keith

 

Lance had finished reading it a couple of minutes ago. But he kept staring at the little note, rereading it for the fourth time. He knew Keith was waiting for him to say something, anything.  
But he didn’t know what to say.

Six years.

Keith had written this note six years ago.  
And Lance had never read it.  
Keith had waited for his response the last six years.  
He couldn’t even imagine how Keith had to feel all this time.

All he had wanted was a response.

Lance telling him that it was okay.

That he was okay.

For him.

He put the note in his lap and took out his phone.  
From the side he could see Keith staring at him.  
Lance opened the chat.

 

lance: this is lance, 13, cuba

 

It beeped next to him and Keith took out his phone, too.

 

lance: I just read your note

lance: thank you for telling me

lance: we’re okay

lance: you are okay

lance: more than okay

lance: you are my best friend

lance: and perfect

lance: and even if we stop talking

lance: and don’t see each other for years

lance: I will think about you all the time

lance: and we will see each other again

lance: and have an awesome autumn together

 

He wanted to write more. He thought about it for some seconds, his fingers hovering over the letters. A part of him wanted to burst out how he felt about him. But it didn’t feel right. He couldn’t.  
This was Keith telling him he had a crush on him when they were younger.  
This was Keith telling him he was gay.  
This moment wasn’t about him.

 

keith: thanks for replying so fast

 

Lance huffed a laugh and looked to Keith.  
Keith smiled at him, visibly relieved, but still somewhat cautious. Unsure about the situation. And Lance could relate, oh he could relate.

“Sorry I didn’t read it sooner,” Lance said to him. “I would never ignore you, or any part of you, for that matter. Never. Here or in any other universe.”

He was awfully conscious about himself in this moment, about every word he just had said.  
(thank you, the tiny annoying voice in his head said)

“Thank you,” Keith said. He looked at Lance. “Lance?”

“Yeah?”

Keith’s dark eyes met Lance’s dark blue ones.

“Just so I have said it: I am gay.”

Something washed through Lance, some kind of wave. A mix of electricity, butterflies, fire and water. Too much and too intense to get absorbed by the dark rock in his chest.

He nodded.

“Yeah man. I know.”

Yes, it was a bit weird now. They smiled at each other, stared at the ocean and Arcadia Bay, sat in silence, watching the sun setting into the ocean. But for once it was a good silence. A silence for them to let things settle, a silence for them to breathe again.  
Lance didn’t want to ask Keith if he still had a crush on him. That seemed to be a very ridiculous and self-centered question, even for Lance. It had been six years ago.  
When the sun had disappeared, Keith turned around. His eyes were watery and Lance wondered if he had cried without him noticing.

“Should we go?”

It was getting cold.

“Yeah,” Lance said.

It wasn’t late when Keith dropped Lance off at Blackwell but there was a mutual unspoken agreement that this conversation had been enough for this day.

“You really need a second helmet,” Lance pointed out when he gave it back to Keith.

“I know.”

“Oh! I get you one for your birthday,” he exclaimed excitedly. “It’s only three weeks.”

Keith smiled. He looked tired, Lance thought. He was kind of tired, too.

“Alright,” Lance added and began walking away. “Good night then.”

Keith gave him a little wave.

“Oh and Keith?”

“Yes?”

“Let’s hang out tomorrow?” He made finger guns at Keith.

“Definitely,” he replied with a smile.

~~

Lance went to his room but soon felt restless.  
So he went to Hunk but Hunk’s room was empty.  
So he went to Pidge.  
And both of them sat in front of Pidge’s laptop.

“Hey fan club,” he said, “what’s up?”

“You’re back early,” Pidge observed.

“Yeah, Keith and I, we were at the lighthouse but it got cold, so.”

He got behind them and glimpsed over their shoulders at the laptop screen. There was a lot of text. How boring.

“Pidge said you think Lotor isn’t Zarkon’s son but Keith is,” Hunk said.

Lance’s eyes darted to Pidge who just shrugged.

“I told him about the rumor you heard.”

“Yeah, the rumor, obviously, totally, yeah,” Lance nodded quickly, “really weird, right?”

“Actually not that weird,” Hunk said and pointed at a paragraph of the very long boring text Lance didn’t really want to read. “Read this.”

“Yeah, you should read this,” Pidge agreed.

“I have this rare condition that sometimes prevents my eyes from reading long and boring texts,” Lance said instead and sat down on the bed.

Pidge sighed but Hunk started talking without batting an eyelash.

“Well, we started out at Zarkon’s wiki entry and clicked all the way through the depths of anything one can find online about the Galra foundation. Do you remember when Lotor turned 20 last month and inherited the foundation?”

“And transformed into an even bigger dick? I remember.”

“Well,” Pidge took over, “the news said Zarkon wanted to change the tradition, right? He didn’t want to write it over to his son yet.”

“So?” Lance asked. He didn’t know what they were aiming for.

Hunk smiled wickedly.

“Guess what.”

“Grass is green.”

“Lance, come on.”

“I’m not in the mood to guess,” Lance complained.

“Fine. The foundation contract says if there are any doubts about the family relationship when it comes to the inheritance process, one can request a paternity test.”

It got quiet.  
Both Pidge and Hunk waited for Lance to react.

“You expected me to guess that?” Lance deadpanned.

Pidge rolled their eyes.

“Wait,” Lance continued slowly, “you mean we just give someone at Galra headquarter a little, you know, hint that something is up, and they will do a test?”

Pidge shook their head.

“No, too dangerous. They would just sweep it under the table.”

“We tip off the media,” Hunk said.

Lance grinned. Pidge and Hunk, too.

“I love the freedom of the press.”

They spent the rest of the evening to come up with several plans. They ringed all the chances of how to slide the information to some journalists without revealing themselves and without dragging Keith into it. After having the most elaborated and most detailed ideas, Pidge led them back to their first one.

“It’s just neat.”

Blackwell had school records of all their students, including Lotor Galra. This school record also included a birth certificate. If they were right about it and Lotor was indeed not Zarkon’s son, the certificate would show it.

“Or they have forged it,” Hunk had put in.

Pidge had shaken their head.

“What for? Zarkon is the co-owner of Blackwell. Why forging it when it’s so much easier and less dangerous to just let it slide?”

They agreed it was worth a try.  
All they had to do was to sneak into Iverson’s office, take a good look at Lotor’s school record and make copies of some interesting pages. Easy peasy.

“I’m gonna go to bed,” Hunk said and glanced at his phone.

“Some important messages?” Pidge asked suspiciously.

Hunk blushed, waved them good night and left.  
Lance shared a smile with Pidge. Hunk had finally told him about his first date. He got up and was about to go, too.

“Pidge?”

“Yeah?”

He waited until they turned around from the laptop.

“Keith is gay.”

Lance tried to keep a neutral expression on his face although he felt Pidge searching for something else. He hoped it didn’t look too weird because after a few seconds it felt like a staring contest.

“Cool, ” Pidge finally said.

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Lance agreed. “But don’t tell him I told you. I don’t know if I was supposed to tell anyone.”

“So why did you tell me?”

“Dunno,” Lance said and lingered at their door.

“Something else?” Pidge asked lightly.

“Uhm, nope,” Lance said quickly. “Nighty-night.”

“Good night.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cried a lot writing this fanfic, the lighthouse scene was one of them, oh god, so many tears.  
> shout out to my boy for saying the scary word.
> 
> also wtf, zarkon could be keith's father, whaaaaaat is going on?!?!


	7. Friday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the working title of this chapter was _sneaky little paladins_.

###  **Friday**

 

Tuesday, later that night.  
It was around 11 pm when Lance lay down in his bed. He wasn’t tired yet so he took out his phone and opened the last chat. Keith’s message from before was on top.

 

lance: hey what’s up

 

The reply came immediately.

 

keith: not much, watching tv with shiro and adam

keith: I’m at their place

lance: what’s on?

keith: some quiz show

keith: what about you?

lance: hang out with hunk and pidge

keith: cool

 

Lance stared at the screen.

 

lance: can I call you?

keith: yes

 

“Hey,” Keith said quietly when he picked up.

Lance sat up in his bed.

“Hey, just,, uh, wanted to say hey,” Lance said and his eyes widened when he realized he had absolutely no reason to call and no idea what to say. What the fuck McClain, what are you doing.

“Hey yourself,” Keith said.

They fell silent.  
Say something, Lance. Ask him something. Tell him about, um, something that is a thing. Like. Anything. Lance, please, talk.

“How are Hunk and Pidge?” Keith asked and Lance let himself fall back. Kogane to the rescue, bless him.

“Good, yeah, they’re good. Hunk told me about his first date with Shay.” His brain started working again.

“How did it go?”

“Very well, he has a picture of them in front of Dewey set as his phone wallpaper.”

Keith chuckled.

“How adorable.”

“I am so happy for him, he liked her from the beginning but they only had started talking a few weeks before summer so he had to wait all those weeks to see her again, you know, because he had to go home. I thought his crush might have gone over the summer, like mine, but no.” He laughed. “And now they actually went on a date. This is so awesome.”

There was a brief period of silence.

“You had a crush on Shay?” Keith asked.

Lance turned around in his bed.  
What, why? Why would he ask that? What did Lance--  
Oh.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I didn’t crush on Shay.”

Why did he have to talk without thinking all the time?  
He knew Keith waited for him to elaborate.

“Ah, it was nothing, just a teacher, nothing serious. It was just, you know, a little crush.”

“A teacher,” Keith repeated teasingly and Lance could basically hear his eyebrows raise. “Which one?”

Lance didn’t want to tell him. He would assume Lance was straight, of course he would. And Lance didn’t want Keith to think this. Because. Reasons. But he also didn’t want to say anything else, so. He pressed his eyes shut.

“Well. Allura Altea. English and history.” He felt his cheeks flush.

“Oh, I’ve seen her. She’s pretty.”

Lance cringed.

“I guess.”

“Lance,” Keith asked with a funny voice, “are you embarrassed?”

Lance pressed his hand against his forehead and stared at the ceiling.

“No?”

Keith chuckled.

“Dude, I just told you I had a crush on you when we were little.”

Lance bit his lips.

“True.” He paused. “Don’t be embarrassed though.”

“I didn’t say I was.”

Lance furrowed his brows. What was that supposed to mean now?

“What do you mean, then?” Lance asked.

“Just, “Keith said, “that it’s okay to talk about how you feel, that’s it.”

“I don’t have a crush on her anymore.”

“I know, that was your entry sentence into this topic.”

“Oh, right.” Lance wished he had a chat protocol in his head that helped him tagging all the regrettable things he had said.

“Sooo,” Keith said and made a short pause, “you don’t have a girlfriend, I guess?”

Lance closed his eyes in defeat.  
He needed help. Right now.

“I’m not in a relationship with anyone right now.”

Lance was surprised at how smooth he had said it. And that he had come up with it at all. It hadn’t even felt that weird. He fist-bumped towards the chair next to his bed. Celebrating the little victories of gender-neutral language, right? Pidge would be so proud.

“Yeah, me neither,” Keith said and Lance thought that was a good piece of information.

Then he heard a knock on Keith’s end of the line. There was Shiro’s voice in the background though he couldn’t make out any words.

“I tell him, yes Shiro,” he heard Keith say in an annoyed voice, “can you--? Just one minute?” Lance imagined Keith motioning Shiro to leave him alone to give him some privacy.

“Hey, I gotta go,” Keith said to Lance. “I’m in Shiro’s bedroom and they want to go to bed.”

“Alright.”

“Also,” Keith continued, “they want to talk with me, like, serious grown-up talk, about what I did with the Blade and what I want for my future and so on. Shiro took off from work for the rest of the week and we’re going somewhere. Adam’s coming too.”

“Oh my, that’s some spooky shit.”

“Yes, it is. I know they want the best for me but I have no idea about, you know, anything anymore. Especially lately.”

“I feel you,” Lance added not helpfully, then he realized what else Keith tried to tell him. “Wait, so we’re not gonna see each other for a few days?”

“Probably. I don’t know when we will get back. Could be tomorrow, could be Sunday.”

“Well that’s just wrong, Kogane, and you know it.”

Keith chuckled.

“I don’t have a say in it, McClain.”

“Just tell them Lance said that it’s against the rules of the universe to separate us like that and if the universe collapses, it’s their fault.”

Keith said nothing for a few seconds and Lance thought he might have said too much, talked too emotionally when he should have just supported Shiro’s decision and made Keith feel good about it.

“We can still text?” Keith said. “Or maybe call?”

“I’d like that very much,” Lance said quietly. “And just for the record, I think Shiro is really cool and I’m glad that, you know, he’s there for you. And Adam, too, I guess.”

“I know you just rolled your eyes at Adam,” Keith stated.

“The good-egginess has yet to be proven!”

They both laughed.

“You’re ridiculous, Lancey. In the best way.” Lance felt suddenly light-headed. He heard Shiro’s voice in the background again. “Shiro looks at me very angry, I’m afraid he might snap any second and say a curse word,” Keith said, obviously with a grin, “I better hang up.”

“SAY GOOD NIGHT, LANCE!” he heard Shiro shout and Lance thought that this whole situation had something very heart-warming.

“GOOD NIGHT LANCE!” Lance shouted back.

“LANCE, goddammit, my ear is still on the phone,” Keith said. Shiro laughed in the background.

“Oops, sorry,” Lance chuckled, “good luck with the talk.”

“Thank you. Good night, Lance.”

“Good night, Keith.”

Thank the planet Keith had hung up without any hesitation. Otherwise Lance would have started to think about who was supposed to hang up first. No more movies, he told himself, they messed him up. And Keith had called him Lancey. Again. When they were little, he had called him that all the time but then not so much anymore. It was a pretty childish nickname, sure. But it felt nice. Like a part of their childhood was still ongoing.

~~

Wednesday.

Lance was surprised how hard it was to not see Keith on a daily basis. Sure, they had only started to see each other again less than two weeks ago but it already felt wrong to be apart again, even if it was only for a couple of days.

At least Keith kept him updated via text messages, the last one telling him they had arrived in Seattle.

 

keith: the hotel is nice

keith: they try not to make this trip about me but ofc it is

keith: I don't need a break, they do

lance: they just want your best keith

keith: but it’s boring

keith: it’s like I moved to another country

lance: !!!!!!!!! see !!!!!!!!!!

lance: see how I felt!!!!!!!

lance: when will u come back?

keith: friday evening

lance: urgh

keith: I know

 

College was bothering him. He was restless, absolutely restless. The whole Wednesday morning he thought he was getting sick because he felt too warm, his cheeks were flush, his heart raced all the time, he had absolutely no appetite and he couldn’t concentrate on a single thing.

Lotor hadn’t been at school to annoy him and rumors about him having a big fight with his father spread. Lance didn’t care.  
Pidge and Hunk offered him to include him in their group of the hero contest. He shrugged.  
Allura kept smiling at him in class. He ended up excusing himself because he felt unwell.

Lance spent the free afternoon and evening mostly lying on his bed listening to questionable songs, hoping to get well again. He had left it to Pidge to look for scientific answers to his time-reverse ability. But he hadn’t given up on searching the internet for lyrics about time, time-travel and wishes for things to change.

There were a lot of songs.  
There were a lot of songs focusing on love and missed chances or the wish to reverse time to have a second chance.  
And Lance let himself fall into those songs.

He thought of Keith. Of Keith and him.  
And Veronica. And how his parents had reacted when she had come out to them.  
Although their mother had eventually come to terms with her daughter being in love with a girl, their father did his mighty best to ignore this fact. This important part of her.  
And Lance didn’t cry the first time into his pillow this afternoon.  
But he didn’t know why.  
No.  
He didn’t want to know.

He often texted with Keith. He had sent him pictures of Seattle and even snapshots of Shiro making funny faces at his phone. Lance grinned a lot. And Keith had sent him one picture of himself on the white ferry with the skyline in the background. He was smiling in the camera.

And Lance looked at the picture until the screen of his phone went dark.  
Then he touched the screen again and the photo was back.  
And he looked at it some time longer.  
Until the screen got dark again.  
And then he changed the settings of his phone that the screen time-out was set to the maximum time of 10 minutes for the rest of the night.  
He rolled on his side, propped his phone against a book and looked at the screen.  
At Keith.  
And listened to songs.

He was about to fall asleep when his playlist started another song.

Lance’s eyes sprang wide open.  
Slowly he sat up in bed, attentively listening to the song in his earphones.  
And he came to the conclusion.  
That he wasn’t sick. He wasn’t catching the flue.

 

_Monday you can hold your head_

_Tuesday, Wednesday stay in bed_

_Or Thursday watch the walls instead_

_It's Friday I'm in love_  

~~ 

Thursday.  
It was early evening and Lance had watched some walls instead.

 

lance: when will you come back tomorrow?

keith: late, probably. around 9ish?

keith: I could come say hi….?

lance: I have this group project with hunk and pidge very late :/

keith: oh ok

lance: breakfast on saturday?? SAY YES

keith: sure!

lance: :(

keith: what?

lance: you didn’t say yes

keith: ………….

keith: Y

keith: E

keith: S

keith: !!!

lance: :D

 

The number of times Lance had listened to The Cure and cinematic cover versions of their songs wasn’t countable anymore.  
He knew that he felt something for Keith, something very very strong.  
And he had this almost aggressive hunch that it wasn’t just friendship, no, something else, too. Maybe it really was a crush. But he wasn’t sure yet. However fitting some songs seemed to be. (Mostly pop songs.) He hadn’t seen Keith for some days now. Maybe he would feel different about him when he saw him in person again. Or maybe not. Lance was one (1) emotional mess.

He hit the pause button and sat up on the edge of his bed.  
He took his phone in the hand and opened Keith’s picture again.  
He felt happiness. And he was afraid of how intense this happiness seemed to be.  
He took a deep breath, put the phone away and left the room.  
There was something he wanted to do.

~~

“Come in, Lance!”

“Pidge.”

“Yeah?” Pidge said but kept staring at the screen of their laptop.

“Totally unrelated question.”

“Unrelated to what?”

“Everything.”

“Okay.”

“Do you have a gaydar?”

Pidge looked at him, then huffed out a laugh.

“What? Why?”

“Do you?”

“Well, sometimes, I guess.”

“Do me a favor and turn it on.”

“Lance,” Pidge laughed again, holding their belly and not being able to stop, “that’s not how a gaydar works. Oh my goodness.”

Their laugh was contagious and soon Lance joined the laughter.

“Please,” he begged in tears of laughter, “humor me.”

“Okay, okay,” they said and calmed down. “Shht.”

Lance fell quiet and reminded himself that he wanted this.

“Siri, turn on my gaydar.”

Lance grinned.

“You don’t have an iPhone.”

“Shht. I am concentrating. Alexa? Locate all the queers in the area.”

“Pidge, come on,” he said nervously.

“Wait, it’s working. I feel, I feel, there’s at least one ace person in this room. Oh wait, that’s me! But I sense someone else,” they said and put their fingers at their temple, “someone who hasn’t been picked up before.”

Lance pressed his lips together. As much fun as this idea had been, it suddenly started to drain him and he wished Pidge would just cut to the chase. Gosh, he was this close to back out from something he hadn’t even fully committed to yet. Why did he think the funny approach had been a good idea? Or an approach at all? Because suddenly it wasn’t. Not at all.

“Might there be another pan or bisexual person in this room, the gaydar akinator asks.”

Why was he so nervous.  
He didn’t know what to say.  
Pidge dropped their hands from their head and spoke with their normal voice again, but much calmer and lower than he was used to hear.

“Lance.”

They pushed their chair closer to him.

“What?”

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

He actually thought about it briefly. Then he shook his head.

“I know. But. I want to.”

He needed to do this now.

“Alright. Do you want to say it or do you want me to say it for you?”

Lance’s heart raced and his hands felt sweaty.

“I’ll say it.”

“Okay. Take your time. I’m here for you.”

Lance looked at his hands.  
He wasn’t even sure himself. Was this a good idea? Should he have waited longer? Waited until he was one hundred percent sure?  
He looked up. Pidge tilted their head and gave him an encouraging smile.

“I think I might be,” he closed his eyes, scary scary scary, “bisexual.” He took some breaths and waited for Pidge to say something. When they didn’t say anything, he opened one eye and looked at them.

Pidge’s smile was so bright.

He opened the other eye as well.

“Can I hug you?” they simply asked.

Lance swallowed hard. He didn’t feel light or relieved or anything. There was this huge rock inside his chest pulling him down. Had it been the wrong decision? Another thing on his list of regrettable things he had said?

“Okay,” he said unsurely.

Pidge got up and Lance too and Pidge wrapped their arms around him. Both of them didn’t say anything for a really long time. Lance eased more and more into the hug, the rock in his chest beginning to feel lighter after all. It was Pidge. Pidge knew about things like that. Pidge wouldn't judge him, not in a single way, he was sure about it. Then suddenly it was like he was able to breathe again. No. He was able to breathe even better than before. Oh God. It had been the right decision. In this single moment, it had been right.

Then Pidge spoke. Their voice was small and cracked a bit.

“I am so proud of you, I wanna cry.”

“Don’t you dare start crying,” Lance said but he felt tears welling up, tears of relief, stress and nervousness. But mostly relief.

“Too late.”

Lance hugged them tighter and okay, he was crying a bit. This was all so new to him, so confusing. All these new feelings he had inside of him. And suddenly they had a name. And he had said it out loud. To a real person.

“This is scary, Pidge. I am scared.”

“I know. It’s fucking scary. But you’re not alone.”

Pidge was about to withdraw but Lance held them close.

“I don’t want you to see me cry.”

Pidge choked with laughter.

“I’m crying, too, Lance.”

They broke the hug but Lance kept one hand on Pidge’s shoulder, with the other arm he wiped the tears from his face. Pidge used both hands to dry their face. They smiled at each other through their tears.

“Will it be like that every time now?” Lance asked.

“Oh, it depends on the person you tell, the situation and so on but overall it will get easier. Was I – the first person you told?”

Lance nodded.

“Yeah.” He wanted to cry again but pulled himself together. For now. Pidge’s eyes filled with tears again. “Pidge, no,” Lance said, “don’t cry, you drag me down with you.”

They turned around, opened a drawer and got something out.

“Give me your hand.”

Lance hold out a hand. With a quick move, Pidge tied a rainbow-colored ribbon around his wrist.

“Welcome to the club,” Pidge said and wiped away the new tears, “and thank you for trusting me, Lance.”

He hugged them again.

“Thanks for being so cool.”

“You’re welcome,” Pidge grinned.

“So,” Lance said. He was so very exhausted but he didn’t want to go back to his room. “Brutal change of topic. What did you do before I got to you?”

“Well,” Pidge said, sat down on the chair and pushed themselves back to their laptop, “I started working on a presentation for physics. When was the last time you did homework? Have you even started working on Allura’s contest yet?”

Lance made a non-committed humming noise.

“I know you have a lot going on but, man, you have to make some time to work on your grades.”

“I will, I promise, okay?” he tried to appease them. “So, physics. Can I help you?”

Pidge raised an eyebrow.

“You wanna help me with my homework? Voluntarily?”

“I don’t feel like going back after, you know,” he swirled one finger around his head.

“Your coming-out?”

Lance twitched.

Pidge tilted their head in a question.

“Scary word?”

Lance nodded with wide eyes.

“Very.”

“Small steps then, no problem.”

“Thanks. I am still a work in progress.”

Pidge chuckled.

“Constantly. Just,” Pidge continued and narrowed their eyes to a slit, “can I ask you something? And you totally don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”

“Okeh.”

“Do you want to talk about what has prompted,” they swirled their finger around Lance’s head like he had done before, “this?”

 

keith keith keith keith keith keith keith

 

Lance looked away. Then he looked back at his friend.  
He shook his head.  
No, he didn’t want to talk about it now.

“Okay,” Pidge said.

“But,” Lance added. Then he gave them a meaningful look that said ‘you know’.

Pidge nodded with a calm smile and a blink of their eyes and Lance answered with a weak smile.

“So,” Pidge said and turned to their laptop “about physics, can you copy this page on my presentation cards?”

“Absolutely. I will add little doodles.”

“Of course you will.”

~~

It’s Friday Lance is  
outside the principal’s room.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” Hunk mumbled while Pidge and Lance climbed through the window. “Someone should wait here and keep watch.”

They had decided to put their plan into action as soon as possible, meaning the following Friday. The police had come to the conclusion that the shooting had been an isolated incident and therefore the school hadn’t enforced their security. As questionable as this decision might have been, it worked out well for the three friends.

“Come on, Hunk,” Pidge hissed, “or you’re gonna get us caught.”

Hunk closed his eyes for a second and then followed them inside.

“I will regret this.”

“And leave the window open or we are locked!”

“Look at this funky room,” Lance said and looked around the not-even-remotely-funky room they just had broken into. He turned on the flashlight of his phone. It looked like one would assume a principal’s office to look like. A huge wooden desk with a name sign, a computer, many shelves with books and folders. Some old pictures on the wall.

“Is this a photo of an ancient rock’n’roll band or is this the board of school 1974, who can even tell,” Lance laughed and studied some framed pictures on the wall. “Look at their hair, Hunk! Hilarious!”

“Shht, Lance,” Pidge hushed him, “come here.”

The three of them assembled in front of a closed file cabinet.

“Here, G,” Pidge said and get out a key of their pocket.

Hunk and Lance started talking at the same time.

“Where the hell do you have a key from?”

“Pidge, are you out of your mind?”

“Calm down,” they said quietly, “someone owed me a favor for helping them with a, um, project and said person is an aide of the principal. I won’t say names, don’t even try.”

“Had to be an important project,” he mumbled.

With a click the cabinet opened.  
With quick fingers Pidge scrolled through the folders.

“Galra, Lotor.”

“Gimme,” Lance said and took the file out of Pidge’s hands.

“Guys,” Hunk said suddenly. “Wait. What if Keith doesn’t want this.”

“What do you mean?”

“What if he doesn’t want to inherit the Galra foundation. Or even want to know who his father is.”

Lance and Pidge shared a confused look.

“Oh,” Lance said, “to be honest I haven’t thought about this.”

“Me neither,” Pidge admitted.

They had been too excited for this plan to work out, it hadn't even come to their minds that Keith might want something different than them.

“But this file will only tell us if Lotor is Zarkon’s son or not. It won’t tell us anything about Keith,” Lance thought out loud.

“True,” Hunk agreed. “But I’m gonna put carefully my foot down that we don’t get this thing rolling before Keith is involved.”

The three of them looked at each other.

“You’re right,” Lance said. “Just the file for now, everything else not without Keith’s approval. He has enough on his chest with the shooter around.”

Their minds clicked simultaneously.  
Pidge grabbed Lance’s arm.  
Lance inhaled sharply.  
They looked at Hunk.  
Hunk said it out loud.

“The shooter knows. Oh God. They know about Keith. They know he’s the rightful heir.”

Lance nervously opened the folder and flipped through it. Hunk held up his phone to give him some light.

“Here,” Lance finally said, “look at this.”

“What does it say?” Pidge asked.

“Mother: Haggar Honerva. Father: unknown.”

They stared at each other.

“This is it,” Lance said quietly. “Oh my God, Keith is really Zarkon’s son.”

“Although I believe it too, it’s not proof yet,” Hunk said.

“The chances are high, though,” Pidge added with a knowing look at Lance.

He said nothing but took some pictures of the birth certificate with his phone.

“Open K.”

“Lance, we just agreed on--”

“We’re here now, Hunk,” Lance insisted. “Just do it.”

Pidge and Lance exchanged a long look.  
Then Pidge opened the K part of the cabinet.

“Kogane, Keith,” Pidge said and handed the file to Lance.

“Alright, alright. Here it is.”

“So?” they asked.

“Father: unknown.” Lance looked at his friends. “See, no harm done.”

“Can we go now?” Hunk asked nervously.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” Lance said.

In this moment the window shut.

All three of them gave a jerk.

“Oh God, the shooter,” Hunk whispered.

“Quiet,” Pidge said and sneaked to the window.

“Shit,” they said. “It’s closed for good.”

“Was it the shooter?”

“No. Gravity. Without a key we can’t open it.”

“Do you mean we’re stuck here?” Hunk asked scared.

“No,” Pidge said, “the door opens from the inside, it’s a fire escape thing. But only once. If it snaps shut a second time, that would be an issue.”

“Alrighty, so we just stick together and we’re good,” Lance said, trying to sound unconcerned.

“Thank God I had a plan B,” Pidge sighed. “I left another window open, back in our classroom, we just have to get there without getting caught.”

Hunk shook his head.

“I would feel a lot better if Shiro was on duty.”

“This way he has an alibi in case something goes wrong,” Lance said quietly, “we talked about this. We’re not involving anybody before we’re sure.”

“Well, we’re sure now, aren’t we?”

“Let’s just go,” Pidge said, put away the files and they all walked towards the door. “Quiet now.”

Lance opened the door and peeked around the corner.

“Looks good,” he whispered and took a step outside. It was the outer office of the principal’s secretary.

 

Then shit went down.

A loud noise sounded through the hallway in front of them, not a voice, not a mechanical sound, just some noise they couldn’t associate with anything in this stressful second.

Lance was already out of the door so he ducked behind the secretary’s desk. Hunk meanwhile was still standing behind Pidge in the principal’s office. So he did the only thing he could think of: he pulled Pidge back inside and quickly shut the door behind them.

In front of the secretary’s office, a security guard walked by, staring at his phone.

“I hate jump scare videos,” he mumbled. “Unsubscribed.”

Lance heard another door fall shut and everything was quiet again. Quickly he looked out in the hallway. Right, the security guard was outside on campus again.

“Pidge, Hunk?” he whispered and rattled at the principal's door.

“Lance?” he heard Pidge’s muffled voice. “We’re locked. We’re seriously locked.”

“Shit. Tell me what to do,” Lance asked and helplessly looked around.

“There are only two options,” Pidge said through the door. “You somehow get the keys from the security guard.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Lance replied in horror. “I take the other option.”

“Well, call Shiro.”

“What?”

“Or get his keys somehow. They should be back by now, right?"

Shit.

“Alright, you two, just, stay there,” Lance said, “I’ll figure something out.”

He heard Hunk’s weak laughter.

“We’re gonna die.”

“Not helpful,” Pidge hissed. “Lance can do this, right buddy?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said and was glad that they couldn't see his face right now.  
He hurried back behind the desk, took out his phone and scrolled down the numbers.  
Keith.  
Shiro.  
Shit.  
He dialed Shiro’s number.

“The person you’re calling is temporary not available. Please--”

He hung up.  
Shit.  
He dialed Keith’s number.

“Hey Lancey,” Keith answered cheerily and Lance felt like the worst person on this planet to drag him into the mess he had started.

“Keith, listen,” he whispered, “I’m in a bit of a situation, not life or death,” he added nervously, “but, ehm, to be expelled or not to be expelled wise.”

“What happened?”

“We broke into Iverson’s office.”

“What? Why?”

“Not important right now. The thing is, Pidge and Hunk got locked into his office. I’m currently behind the secretary’s desk, very cozy, she wears pink crocs.”

“Lance,” Keith said, trying to put him back on the important parts of the story.

“Anyway, we need Shiro’s keys. To unlock the office. Without running into the other security guard, that would be,, goals, actually.”

There was a brief silence and Lance could hear Keith moving.

“Shiro’s out with Adam. Stay there, I got the key. I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”

Lance closed his eyes.

“Thank you.”

Lance told Hunk and Pidge that rescue was on their way and then they had to wait. The waiting was the worst part and time passed so slowly. Then finally there was a noise at the main entrance, someone opened the door and walked with quick steps towards them. Lance didn’t dare to get up in case it was the security guard.

“Lance?”

“Oh God, Keith,” Lance whispered and got up behind the desk. “Our Lord, our savior.”

Keith looked confused.

“What happened?”

Lance pointed at the principal’s door.

“Can you open it?”

He shook his head. “Shiro has only the key for the main entrance at home,” he explained, “his other keys are locked here somewhere.” He scanned the shelves and cabinets. “Here.”

Keith walked up to a shelf with several lockers, like the student lockers but much smaller. One name tag said ‘Takashi’.

“This one,” Keith said.

“Who’s Takashi?” Lance asked.

“That’s Shiro’s first name.”

“What?”

Keith turned towards him.

“His last name is Shirogane, Lance.”

“Woah, my life is a lie. Do you know the combination?”

Keith winked at him. Lance felt like his universe had just been reduced to Keith Kogane in front of him. Keith put in some numbers and there was a click. The locker opened. A second later Keith held the ring of keys in his hand. Lance stared at him in disbelief.

“You know you could have just told me all that over the phone, right?”

“Maybe I wanted to save you and see the look on your face?"

“WOULD YOU TWO STOP FLIRTING AND OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR PLEASE?” Pidge muffled voice sounded through the door.

Keith and Lance gave each other an ‘oops’ smile and turned to the door. A part of Lance loved Pidge for that comment and filed it under ‘things to think about later’. It took Keith half a minute to pick the right key but then the door opened.

“Thank you thank you thank you,” Hunk said and put his head weakly against Keith’s shoulder.

“No problem,” Keith said and gave him a pat on his back.

“We need to leave,” Pidge hurried them, “we just saw the guard through the window, he’ll be here any second.”

Hunk grabbed Pidge’s hand and they started running out of the office and down the hallway.

“Come on, Keith,” Lance urged him.

“Wait.” He put the keys back in the locker, closed it properly and changed the combination to something random. “Okay, let’s go.”

They walked into the hallway, Pidge and Hunk were waving to follow them into the classroom on the other end. Suddenly they heard the main entrance door rattle.

“Oh shit,” Keith cursed.

They were too far away to where Hunk and Pidge waited and too close to the door the security guard was about to open within the next few seconds.

“Run,” Keith said and grabbed Lance by his wrist (his wrist again). They stumbled a few feet forward until Keith opened a plain door next to a classroom and pulled him inside.

It was completely dark and narrow, they didn’t see a damn thing.

 

Lance knew Keith was right in front of him, breathing heavily.  
The room smelled faintly like cleanser.

“Janitor’s room,” Keith whispered.

“I thought so,” Lance answered.

“Shht.”

They heard steps outside, slowly walking by, opening doors, closing doors. Lance didn’t like this pitch black darkness. Where it didn’t make a difference if one had their eyes closed or open. He got out his phone, felt somewhere to his side, put it down on some kind of shelf and touched the screen.  
A faint light illuminated the room.

“Hi,” Keith said softly in front of him with a smile on his lips, his bangs half-covering his eyes.

Lance stared at him for a few seconds.  
Then he did something rather unexpected.  
He raised his hands to Keith’s face and wiped Keith’s bangs to the side, determined like it had been a task he had to do and hold them in place so they wouldn’t fall back.  
Then he looked into Keith’s eyes.  
His dark eyes looked surprised.  
And Lance wanted to whisper “You are beautiful” but he didn’t, he just looked at him.  
And Keith’s face relaxed and he looked back, patiently, fondly.

And then Lance realized it was Friday.

It was Friday and he was--

The phone switched back to standby mode and the screen went dark.

Lance pulled away his fingers, put down his hands next to his body when he felt Keith’s fingers at his hands a second later.  
Not holding them.  
Just softly touching.  
Slowly Lance’s brain caught up with his actions.  
His heartbeat raced. The butterflies in his stomach celebrated a party. He knew he breathed faster than usual. His body was on fire. And he felt the back of Keith’s hands touching the back of his hands.  
Part of him was glad it was dark again because he stared with wide opened eyes in Keith’s direction.  
He really liked him. This was a crush. He had a crush on Keith. A major one. There was nothing straight about his thoughts, not a thing. He was absolutely sure about it.

The last weeks had been a wild ride on an emotional roller coaster but he was finally ready. Ready to feel, ready to give his feelings a name and a direction.  
He, Lance McClain, also liked guys and he liked the one in front of him the most.

“I think he is gone,” Keith said after a little while. “We need to go.”

Lance nodded.

“Okay,” he said when he realized that Keith couldn’t see his nod.

“Ready?”

“Scared but ready.”

Keith opened the door, scanned the hallway and stepped outside.

Lance took his phone and followed him out of the closet.

“Come.” He grabbed Lance’s wrist (of course) and they briskly walked down the hallway towards the classroom they had seen Pidge and Hunk last. The security guard was nowhere to be seen and Lance was glad about it. He couldn’t have dealt with anything else right now.

“There’s the window,” Keith said. Hunk and Pidge were already gone. Thank God, Lance thought. They climbed outside and jogged towards the dormitory, careful not to be seen by anybody. For once they were lucky.

Out of breathe, they arrived in front of it. Keith followed Lance inside.  
Pidge’s door was half-opened and as soon as they heard footsteps, Hunk and Pidge waved them inside.

“Where have you been?” Pidge asked half concerned, half angry. “I thought you were right behind us.” They looked at Lance. Who said nothing.

“Sorry,” Keith said apologetically, “I had to lock away the keys first. Then the guard came up and we had to hide until he got past.”

“What a night,” Hunk sighed and shook his head, “at least we made it all out.”

“You’re awfully quiet,” Pidge said to Lance with a wry look.

He felt Keith’s eyes on him.

“I’m out of breath from all the running,” Lance said impassively.

“So, um,” Keith said and changed the topic, “I think you owe me an explanation. What were you doing in Iverson’s office?”

Hunk looked at Pidge.  
Pidge looked at Lance.  
Lance looked at his feet.  
Then he looked up to Keith.

“It’s a long story.”

Keith nodded.

“I almost thought so. Listen, I gotta get back before Shiro and Adam get back. There’s something going on at the Galra residence. Some really huge thing. I wasn’t even allowed to leave the house.”

The three friends changed an alarmed look.

“You can tell me tomorrow, alright?” Keith added.

“Of course,” Lance said.

Keith waved Pidge and Hunk goodbye and Lance followed him outside the dormitory.

“That was an adventure,” Keith said with a smile and bumped his shoulder against Lance’s. “Is your life always this exciting?”

They were standing in front of the door in a darker spot, hiding in case the security guard was to show up.  
Lance smiled softly.

“Only since you’re back in it,” he said.

Keith chuckled. And Lance waited for Keith to bring up what had happened in the janitor’s room. But Keith didn’t bring it up.

“What did Shiro say about the Galras? What’s happening there?” Lance asked and broke the silence.

“I don’t know exactly. Apparently Zarkon has assembled his confidants. Adam was very upset when he got the call.”

“Why did Shiro go with him?”

“I’m not sure. He’s probably just worried. But,” Keith said quietly, “I think something is wrong with Lotor coming into inheritance. Zarkon did everything in his power to prevent it but it happened anyway. I might have eavesdropped on some calls Adam had got the last days we were all together. Zarkon hasn't given up yet to reverse Lotor being his successor.”

“But do you know why?”

“Lance, why are you so interested in all this?”

Lance shrugged.

“I need my daily dose of ‘Keeping Up With The Galras’?”

This wasn’t the right time to tell him, he told himself.

“I really need to go,” Keith said but didn’t move an inch.

He looked at Lance.  
And Lance looked at him.  
And he wanted to push away the bangs from his face.

“Yeah, you should,” Lance said.

And he wanted to hold them back.

“Before Shiro gets mad,” Keith said.

And then he wanted to take a step towards him until their noses almost touched.

“Okay, see you tomorrow?” Lance asked.

And then he just wanted to close his eyes and--

“See ya,” Keith said.

 

“HEY!” a loud voice yelled from the other side of the yard.

Keith grabbed Lance’s wrist. They whirled around and immediately were caught in a spotlight of a flashlight. The unknown person held up a long black something and pointed it at them.

“GOTCHA,” the voice shouted angrily and Lance’s only thought was to protect Keith from the shooter.

 

**And everything went white.**

 

“Before Shiro gets...mad,” Keith said and looked strange as if he hadn’t meant to say it.

Lance’s eyes widened. Oh God. He hadn’t expected it to happen again this soon but okay, okay, okay.

“Hide,” Lance said but there wasn’t much to hide, so they stumbled backwards away from the path behind some bushes until Lance’s back was pressed into the dark corner between two dormitory walls.

There were footsteps at the front of the yard.  
Lance pulled Keith towards him, almost in a hug. Keith’s hands and head rested on Lance’s shoulder, Lance loosely put his arms in a protective way around Keith’s upper body.

“Don’t move,” Lance mumbled.

He could feel his breath at his neck.  
The steps drew closer.  
And Lance could see the person walking by.  
It was the security guard, lazily pointing his flashlight at the path.

Shit.  
Then he looked at him closer. It hadn’t been a gun. It had been a baton. It hadn’t been the shooter, it had just been the security guard trying to scare them. Relief washed through Lance and he let his head fall on Keith’s shoulder.

“What?” Keith whispered.

“It’s just the guard,” Lance whispered back.

They waited like this for the long minute the security guard needed to finish his short round in front of the dormitory and get back on the main campus.

“I’m sorry,” Lance said and leaned his head back against the wall. He loosened the hug, giving Keith the chance to draw away from him. “I thought it was the shooter. The baton, it looked just like--”

He stopped.  
Keith and him, they had touched when Lance had reversed time.  
Keith had witnessed it. Lance had seen it in his eyes, the confusion before he had dragged him off the path.  
And Keith was oddly quiet. No yelling like Pidge had done. Just silence.

“Keith?” Lance asked cautiously.

Finally Keith drew away from him, just a bit, so that he could face his friend.  
It was dark and Lance could barely see anything from Keith’s face but he felt some strange energy radiating from him.

“Did you...see this?” Keith asked slowly.

Lance took a breath. The time had come to tell Keith, to tell him everything.

“Yeah, that was weird,” he started to explain, “I know, but--”

“I can’t always control it, I’m sorry.”

 

Full stop.

For a second Lance forgot how to breathe.  
He felt like somebody had pressed all the air out of his lungs.

What.

"What-- what?” he stammered.

“Please don’t freak out,” Keith said carefully, “but I can reverse time. Kind of. Only some moments back. It just happens sometimes. Although I didn’t know I could take someone with me. Like I did now. I didn’t even notice I did it until we were back here.”

“Keith.”

Lance eyes widened.

“I know it sounds strange.”

“No,” Lance shook his head, “I mean. I did this. It was me.”

Was this really happening?

“I don’t understand.”

“I reversed time. Just now. It was me,” Lance repeated urgently and patted his hand against his own chest. “I can do it, too. What the hell, we can both reverse time.”

Now it was Keith who stared at him in disbelief.

“It was you?”

“Yes, I mistook the baton for a gun and I was so scared you might get shot again and then everything went white and-- what?”

“Again?”

“Yes, I reversed time again!”

“No,” Keith looked at him closely, “you said you were scared I might get shot. Again.” 

Shit.

Lance suppressed the urge to cradle Keith’s face in his hands.

“When the shooter was on campus, she...shot you.” It was hard to say it out loud. “And Pidge, too.”

“Oh.”

“I reversed it.”

Keith stared at him.

“Lance. She shot you too.”

“What the hell?”

“You texted me. Asked me to come back, to you and Hunk watching TV.”

Lance stared at him.

“So you did come back,” he stated.

“Of course, I-- I wanted to see you again. And apologize that I had run out like this. I got back to you but the shooter, she...”

“Come on, tell me.”

Keith sighed heavily.

“She shot Hunk first. Then you. It all happened so fast. Then she turned to me. But I just, I couldn’t even face her, I just saw you lying there. And that wasn’t supposed to happen, I just knew it. And then there was the white light again and suddenly I was back on campus, just having said goodbye to Shiro. So I decided to run to the parking lot.”

That was a turn of events Lance hadn’t expected at all.

“I guess we saved each other that night,” he said.

“When did it start with you?” Keith asked.

“Well,” Lance said and shuffled uncomfortable with his feet, “remember when we met? In the diner?”

“Oh. Oh wow, now everything makes more sense. She killed me?”

“Yeah.”

Full disclosure now, Lance thought.

“And back in the cabin you hit your head at the sink and I found you...I actually don’t know how bad it had been but, anyway, time whooshed and I got to you in time.”

“Oh.”

“What about you, when did it start with you?”

Keith looked at him.

“The day we met, in the diner.”

“Really?? Oh wait, did I die, too? Oh damn, I knew it had been too easy.”

“No,” Keith said quietly, “you didn’t die. It was something else. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Oh, come on, was it that gruesome?” 

Lance was excited. Not only had he finally shared the secret (or one of them at least) with Keith but they also had it in common. Everything would be so much easier from now on, Lance hoped.

“I really need to go,” Keith suddenly said.

“Keith, we’re talking about time reversing stuff right now, you can’t just go!” Lance said urgently. “This is science-fiction happening right now.”

“I have to go back to Shiro. I can’t do this to him, Lance. I already broke my promise to him to get you out of the office. We talk tomorrow. And not here outside in a dark corner,” he added.

Lance was suddenly very aware that Keith’s hands still rested on his shoulders. And Lance still had his arms loosely around his friend’s waist.

“But it’s a nice dark corner,” Lance started rambling. “Comfy. Some plants. The wall’s alright.”

“The heating sucks though,” Keith joined in on the joke.

“Well.”

Lance took Keith’s hands and lead them under his own jacket, around his body.

His heart beat fast, very fast and he could feel every single butterfly in his stomach. It was another bold move that scared the living hell out of him. But there were so close, again. First in the janitor’s room, now here. And Lance wanted Keith to know that he liked their closeness. A lot. And he hoped Keith felt the same.

“Better?”

“Yes.”

A part of him was glad that it was too dark to see every line of Keith’s face because he might not have been able to deal with it. A few very long seconds passed.

“I need to go,” Keith said quietly, “Shiro...”

Lance nodded but he didn’t want him to go, he wanted to stay like this forever.

“You’re right,” Lance finally said.

Keith withdrew his hands and they walked back to the path.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Lance added.

“Yeah,” Keith said and Lance clapped him on his back.

 

“But it’s a nice dark corner,” Lance said. “Comfy. Some plants. The wall’s--”

Lance eyes flickered around. They were back in the corner between the walls of the dormitory. What the hell.

“Keith?”

“Sorry,” Keith said quietly, suddenly very shy, “I told you I can’t always control it. I am so sorry.”

Even in the dark Lance noticed Keith was beyond embarrassed, maybe even anxious. It was almost too much to process. It hadn’t been a life-threatening situation. Nothing really had happened, hadn’t it? So why…  
Keith said nothing.  
Lance tried to read his facial expression but it was too dark. But the darkness was his ally right now, helping him to say things he wouldn’t usually dare to say at this moment. Things he was yet too afraid of.  
His head hummed like he was underwater. When he had gathered enough courage, Lance asked.

“Do you want to stay?”

“I can’t, Shiro will be--”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Keith fell silent.

“I want you to stay.”

Like in slow-motion Lance took Keith’s hands and lead them under his own jacket, around his body, like he had done before.

“I want to stay, too,” Keith finally said, his fingers nervously edging around Lance’s waist. “But Shiro--”

“If you say ‘Shiro’ one more time I will snap us both into a universe where Shiro’s a little black kitten.”

Keith leaned his head against Lance’s shoulder and started laughing. Lance put his head against Keith’s and smiled brightly. He started to feel shaky due to the cold, the recent panic and the time-travel topic but he would have stayed like this all night if it meant to have Keith in his arms.

Slowly Keith calmed down again. He looked at Lance and drew his arms back.

“Alright. But I need to go for real now,” he said, gently grabbed Lance’s wrist and lead him back on the path in front of the dormitory.

“You know you can just take my hand,” Lance mumbled.

“Hm?”

Lance felt a blush creeping up his neck. Screw it.

“I said you can just take my hand,” he repeated barely louder. “If you like.”

Keith turned around to him.

The orange light of a nearby lantern illuminated them and Lance was able to look at Keith again, properly. He shouldn’t have forgotten how beautiful Keith was, he shouldn’t have, but the realization hit him once again. It almost knocked out the breath in his chest and all the braveness was gone.

Their eyes locked when he felt Keith’s fingers loosing their grip around his wrist and slowly brushing down to his hand.

“Your hands are still cold,” Lance said when he felt Keith’s hand in his, the first thing that came to his mind with his heart beating up to his chest.

“Sorry,” Keith said and was about to withdraw.

“No,” Lance stopped him by quickly grabbing his other hand, too. “Don’t go.”

This was weird, this was so very weird and new and good and exciting and awkward. He nervously wobbled his head from side to side, staring at his feet.

“So.”

He wondered if he should say something. Tell him how much he liked him. There was a buzzing sound. Keith’s phone.

“Oh shit,” Keith sighed. “I bet it’s--” He stopped. Lance looked back at him and Keith grinned. “I bet that’s the little black kitten.”

Keith’s smile grounded him again and the weirdness went away. It was time to get back to reality, as much as the last minutes had made his heart flutter.

“Okay,” Lance said, “you better head home before your bike turns back into a pumpkin.”

Keith’s eyes flickered in amusement.

“Good night, Lance.” Keith squeezed his hands a last time and let go, “we talk tomorrow.” He smiled at him and started walking away.

“Keith, wait,” Lance stopped him.

“Yeah?” he asked and turned around.

Lance pressed his lips together.

“Just…don't change anything. That happened tonight. Please.”

Keith smiled at him softly.

“I won’t. I promise.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lance mistaking having a crush for getting sick isn't fiction, this actually happened to me once, lol. 
> 
> did I make lance literally come out of the closet? you bet I did. he came out to himself. and hello yes it's possible to come out to someone else before you even fully come out to yourself, welcome to my ted talk about--
> 
> also how shocked are you that keith can reverse time, too? it took me completely by surprise and i **wrote** this shit. i fucking yelled when i realized this had to be a thing. ahhhhh.


	8. Words Fail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content notes: food (cooking & eating), mentioning of previous temporary character death and gun shots, implied temporary character death (whut), unconsciousness/concussion caused by getting hit on the head, hostage situation, tied up hands, hospital

###  **Words Fail**

 

“Someone is in a good mood,” Pidge noticed.

Only a dozen students were in the cafeteria this Saturday morning. Most of the resident students either slept in or had breakfast down in Arcadia Bay.

“Well, today is a good day,” Lance said cheerily and took a bite of his sandwich. “Ischm’t it?”

Hunk and Pidge changed a look.

“Sure, it is,” Hunk agreed and gave his cereals a swirl with his spoon. “And Keith will join us for breakfast, also nice.”

“And unrelated,” Pidge added.

“So, about yesterday,” Hunk said to Lance and gave Pidge a little nudge.

“Yeah?”

“Did Keith say anything else?”

Lance felt his body temperature rise and he slowly swallowed the bread in his mouth.

“About, about what?”

“About whatever is going on at the Galra residence?” Pidge asked.

“Oh, about that.”

He recaptured what Keith had told him last night. He most certainly left out the part where he had learned of Keith’s time-reversing ability. Maybe he’d tell Pidge. Maybe. Hunk’s phone beeped and he took a look at the incoming message.

“Guys.”

“What?”

“I just got a breaking news alert from the Arcadia Bay newspaper.”

“They have an app??”

He turned the screen towards them.

+++

GALRA FOUNDATION

Galra confidant reveals illegitimate inheritance;

Lotor not son of foundation tycoon Zarkon

+++

“I think someone beat us with the news of the year.”

Soon the rest of the present students picked up their phones as well. News spread quickly, especially when it was about the co-owner of Blackwell Academy and his unlikable student son. Or not-son.  
Lance’s thoughts went directly to Keith. Where they were most of the time already. But this time it was different.

“And I have this feeling that from now on things will happen even faster,” Pidge suspected. “Is it weird that I’m disappointed that it wasn’t us who caused this?” They looked at Lance. "At least not in a direct way, I guess."

“It wasn’t a competition, Pidge,” Hunk said.

“I haven’t told Keith yet,” Lance said quietly. “I should have told him.”

A sickness rose up in his stomach, a sickness caused by guilt.

“Hey,” Hunk said and put a hand on his friend’s arm, “calm down. They said nothing about another son. They probably don’t even know anything yet.”

“I hope you’re right,” Lance sighed.

“And if there’s no heir, then the foundation’s shares will get divided between Zarkon, his wife and the confidants,” Hunk explained.

“Well, maybe Adam can get a piece of the cake then,” Lance said.

Lance saw Hunk’s eyes darting towards the cafeteria door behind him. He turned around.  
Keith had just got in and searched the hall with his eyes.  
Lance inhaled deeply, the butterflies in his stomach being set in motion again. It felt almost more like a whirl on its way becoming a tornado than a swarm of butterflies.

“Keith!” Hunk called out and waved at him.

Keith walked towards their table and Lance knew he smiled radiantly but he hoped it didn’t look too ridiculous. It seemed like the happiness inside of him wanted to break free and fill the whole room.

“Hey,” Keith greeted them and took a seat on the bench next to Lance, his hands buried in his jacket.

“What’s up?” Pidge asked.

“Hello Keith,” Hunk said and got up, “do you want a coffee? I’m getting another coffee.”

“Uhm, sure, thanks, black please,” Keith answered.

“Pidge?”

“I’m good, thanks. Ouch,” Pidge hissed and hunched slightly. “I mean, yes,” they said with a stern face and got up as well, “I’m gonna get one, too.”

 

“What, you won’t say hello to me?” Keith teased him when the others were gone.

Lance rolled his eyes.

“Hello.”

“Hey.”

Lance felt clumsy and awkward but in a way that made his heart flutter and his cheeks flush pleasantly.

“So,” he said, “how did things go with Shiro?”

“I got in and two minutes later their car pulled up in the driveway.”

Lance made a whistling noise of impression.

“That was close.”

“Yup. Two minutes later and all hell would have broken loose. And I wouldn't even have the opportunity to reverse it.”

“Why not?”

“Um”, Keith said and bummed his shoulder softly against Lance’s, “because I promised you yesterday to not change a thing?”

“Oh,” Lance said and he felt his cheeks flush a little bit more. “Right.”

It’s not like he didn’t remember, oh he did, alright. He had replayed their last midnight talk plenty of times in his head. Trying to tell himself that Keith liked him back. Somehow. Even though his doubts outweighed anything he’d seen. Sure, Keith did have a crush on him when they had been thirteen but how could this unique cool amazing human like Lance back now? The same intense way Lance liked Keith?

“Do you regret it?” Keith asked after a brief silence, staring at the table in front of them, “I mean, if I was able to change things, would you--”

“No!” Lance said quickly and put his hand on Keith’s arm. He shook his head forcefully. “I meant it. And I still do.”

“Okay.”

Lance slowly pulled his hand away. Some tense energy radiated between them. Keith hadn’t even told to what moment he was referring to, Lance thought. The part where they had waited in the dark corner for the security guard to go? Keith telling him about his ability to reverse time? Or...did he mean the part where Lance said he could hold his hand? Whatever he had meant, Lance wouldn’t want to change a thing.

He coughed slightly and focused on another topic.

“So, I bet you heard the news? I guess that’s why Adam and Shiro have been at the Galra’s yesterday?”

“What do you mean?”

“Lotor isn’t Zarkon’s son,” Lance said and observed Keith’s facial expression.

“Oh, right,” Keith said in a neutral tone of voice. “That’s newsworthy, I guess.” His face gave away nothing, not a thing. And that was something to raise Lance's suspicion.

“Which means he’s not the heir of the Galra foundation. Basically they have to wait if someone else turns up and--”

“Lance,” Keith interrupted him harshly, “as much as you seemed to like to talk about the Galras, I don’t. I couldn’t care less about Lotor and fucking Zarkon. Spare me with the gossip, it’s fucking annoying.”

Where did that come from, Lance wondered.

He looked at him, his eyes quickly blinking in surprise at Keith who gave him an angry stare. Last night he had told him willingly the things he had heard about Adam and the yet unknown things happening at the Galra residence but now…

“Alright, no more Galra talk, got it.”

He didn't want to push his friend and also Pidge and Hunk were on their way back to the table with hot beverages.

“Hey, did you guys talk about the news?” Hunk asked.

“Briefly,” Lance said, “but,” he waved his hand, “whatever.”

“Okeh,” Pidge said.

The silence between them grew louder and louder.

“What are you all up to today?” Keith asked suddenly.

“Watching TV.”

“Reading, sleeping.”

Lance's response was a grunt.

“I was wondering,” Keith said cautiously, “if we want to do something together. All of us.”

Pidge stared at him, then glanced at Lance who was just as surprised as them.

“Umm.”

“I think it’s a great idea, Keith,” Hunk said and smiled at the group.

“Cool,” Keith replied with a shy smile.

“What do you have in mind?” Lance asked.

He had hoped to spend some time alone with him. There were so many things they had yet to talk about, most urgently their shared superpowers. But apparently Keith had other priorities, who would have known.

“Oh, we could cook something.”

Everyone looked at Hunk.

“What? It’s fun. We buy some groceries and cook a nice meal, it’s a group activity. And then we could watch a movie or play some games.”

Everyone looked back at Keith.

“Sounds great to me,” he said almost enthusiastically. “I still got the keys to Adam’s cabin. The kitchen isn’t big but they have plenty of board games up there.”

“Ah, we don’t need a big kitchen, we just need a good cook and thankfully I am,” Hunk said.

Lance shrugged his shoulders.

“Alrighty then, let’s do this!”

“Okay, okay,” Pidge agreed, “but I have one condition.”

~~

Hunk and Lance sat opposite each other in the back of the bus that was on its route down into the city. Pidge had begged Keith to take them with him on his bike and he had happily obliged. Since the bus took fifteen minutes longer than the direct route, Keith had taken Pidge for an even longer ride.

“So,” Hunk said and broke their silence. “How are you, buddy? We haven’t talked in a while.” Knowing Hunk for over a year Lance knew that this wasn’t a reproach but a simple statement.

“Yeah,” he said and nevertheless shrugged apologetically, “things were a bit – intense. I’m good, mostly, what about you?”

“I’m really happy, Lance. You probably heard or guessed but I haven’t told you yet. Shay and me, we’re together, like, for real now. And she’s wonderful,” Hunk gushed, “she makes me laugh and she is super smart, I feel like I learn something new every day I’m with her.”

“Smarter than Pidge?”

Hunk laughed.

“Oh Lance, there are as many different ways to be smart as there are people on this planet. Shay isn’t into physics if that’s what you mean, but she knows about people and the world. And that makes her just as brilliant.”

Lance couldn’t stop smiling at his friend. Hunk’s eyes were radiating happiness.

“This sounds really good, Hunk, I am so happy for you," Lance said, “now you have to introduce us officially next time we’re in the Two Whales.”

“Or we could go on a double date.”

“A what now?” Lance asked with rapid blinking eyes and shifted nervously in his seat.

It took Hunk a moment to realize what he had said, then he stared in sheer horror at his friend.

“No, I mean, I didn’t mean, that’s what I--” He stopped himself from stammering and took a deep breath. “Not a double date, not like, you know. I just thought it would be nice for you to meet her properly. And since she and, umm, Keith know each other from school, I thought it would be a good idea for us four to hang out sometime. A group hang, basically. Oh my God, a group hang, of course, that's what I wanted to say.” 

There was a lot happening between Hunk and Lance at this moment. And Lance knew that Hunk knew or at least had a hunch about him and Keith because Hunk just knew things like that, Hunk knew him better than Pidge did. The only reason he’d gone and talk to Pidge was that Pidge had been his only connection to the queer community. And also because he was a lot more scared to tell Hunk than he had been when he had told Pidge. Because Hunk was his best friend. Next to Keith, of course. And also next to Pidge. But Hunk was Hunk. And he really needed Hunk to know. He knew he’d be okay with him being – scary word – bisexual but Lance didn’t even get used to it yet.

“Dude, are you okay?”

Lance had been staring at a random point next to Hunk’s face for more than a brief moment.

“Are you getting sick?” Hunk asked worried, trying to catch his gaze. “I hate bus rides, I feel you, I get sick all the time.”

“No”, Lance said absent-mindedly, “I’m not sick.”

He stared at his hands, imagined the rainbow-colored bracelet still being around his wrist.

Is this what Keith had felt like? But more afraid because they’d been younger and less educated when it came to queer orientations. And more afraid because they’d been so much closer than him and Hunk. And more afraid because Lance had been his best friend – and crush.

In the end Keith had carried this with him for years. And Lance wouldn’t have changed a thing about Keith except to love him even more.  
And then Lance thought, he could do this. Right here, right now. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to cry again. But then again, even if he had to, screw it.

“It wouldn’t be a double date,” he said slowly, looking up to Hunk again. “Because Keith and I, we’re not dating.”

“Dude, I know, man, that’s--”

“But,” Lance said and waited for Hunk to stop talking. “I wish we were.”

Hunk said nothing, he just listened.

“I really like him. I didn’t know I – this is still very new to me, okay, I just.” He stared at the ceiling and grunted annoyed. Annoyed by himself for not being able to say what he wanted to say.

“It’s alright, Lance,” he heard Hunk say.

“I know.” He looked back at his friend. “I know.”

“You really like Keith.”

“I do. More than, urgh, I mean, he’s my friend but with, like." He grunted again and his leg started twitching. With one hand he messed up his hair in frustration. "With like, with--"

“Extra feelings.”

Lance nodded thankfully.

“Quite a lot of them, actually.” He felt his ears blushing.

“Lance, that’s super dope. Because I’m very sure Keith likes you too. You should see how he looks at you sometimes,” Hunk said with the softest smile and Lance wanted to bury himself in a big warm Hunk-hug. “Thank you for--”

Lance waved exaggeratedly with his arms.

“Stop or I will cry.”

Hunk nodded. Then he got up and sat down beside Lance, putting his arm around his shoulders. Lance let out an audible breath and leaned into the embrace. The urge to cry slowly went away and he was glad that Hunk didn’t say anything else.

There would be another time for talking but it wasn’t now.

~~

“This was freaking amazing,” Pidge shouted when Hunk and Lance got out of the bus in front of the supermarket. “You really feel the speed, I wish I had a bike, too. But I guess I'd be too small to even reach the ground with my feet.”

Keith leaned against his motorcycle with a smug smile. “We went outside of town and wow,” Pidge pointed at Keith, “he isn’t exactly a slow driver. I love it.”

“Well, I know for certain that I will gladly skip any bike experience,” Hunk said.

“How was your boring bus drive?” Pidge asked Lance and stuck out their tongue a bit.

“Pretty cool, to be honest,” Lance said and shared a glance with Hunk. “You and Keith can go on your bike tours, we’ll stick to the bus.”

They all laughed.

And Lance felt really good. Pidge and Hunk knew about his feelings for Keith. And Keith, well, he hoped Keith knew, too. At least a little bit. The autumn sun was shining in the cloudless sky, it was chilly but sunny, they were having a nice day. Lance pushed the thoughts about Keith and the Galra far away and followed the others into the huge supermarket.

They decided to split up and meet back at the checkout.

“You guys can get the soft drinks.”

“What else?” Lance asked and glimpsed at Hunk’s grocery list.

“That’s it. No offense but I don’t trust you to buy the right vegetables and, no offense to you either, Keith, I don’t know you well enough,” Hunk said. “You might be the same disaster as Lance.”

Pidge laughed at their offended faces.

“Pidge, come on,” Hunk said strictly and walked towards the fruit and vegetable section.

Their face fell.

“What? But I wanna go--”

“PIDGE!”

“Damn. See you later,” Pidge grumbled and hurried after Hunk.

 

Keith and Lance started walking in the other direction.

“You had a good drive with Pidge?” Lance asked.

“They’re fun. You know, I drive my bike every day but they were yelling so much, even I felt like I was on a roller coaster. You have some great friends, Lance.”

“I know,” he said, “that includes you.”

Keith smiled warmly at him and Lance almost ran against a shelf of plush frogs.

“This way,” Keith said and turned into the children aisle. He stopped in front of the toy section looking at action figures. “I don’t even know what TV shows most of them are from.”

“Me neither. We’re old, man.”

Keith turned towards Lance.

“Remember when we made our mothers buy the lions?” he asked.

“Yeah, I do,” Lance said. “It feels like it had been only yesterday...but it might as well have been 10.000 years ago.”

They looked at each other for a long time. Long enough for Lance to feel aware that they were alone, the first time properly alone after the night before. Long enough for him to feel the butterflies in his stomach fly in grand formations. Long enough for him to not be that scared anymore because Keith looked right back at him.

“A lot of things happened,” he kept talking, “a lot of things changed.”

Keith tilted his head.

“Not all things changed,” he said quietly, his eyes on Lance’s, as he took a step towards him. Lance knew that something was about to happen between them, something he hadn’t dared to think of until last night.

“They did for me,” Lance breathed and also stepped forward, his body moving almost on autopilot.

They were very close.

 

“HEY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THE SPICES?,” Pidge yelled from the other side of the aisle.

Lance and Keith quickly stepped away from each other.

“Oh no,” Hunk said loudly and disappointed, “sorry.”

Lance turned to Keith and silently offered him his hand.

Their eyes locked and Keith took his wrist.

 

They were back alone in the aisle.

“Not all things changed,” Keith repeated with his eyes on Lance. Then he took Lance’s hands, walked backward and lead them around the corner so they were blocked from other people’s views.

Keith waited, his face very close to his.

“They, they did for me,” Lance finally repeated out of breath.

He let go of Keith’s hands and carefully put his own on Keith’s waist.  
This felt right, he thought, like the most right thing ever.  
He started leaning down very slowly, watching Keith’s reaction.  
Keith tilted his head up to him. 

Lance’s eyes fell shut as soon as his lips touched Keith’s.

He felt Keith’s hands on his upper arms, softly pulling him closer even though they already were as close as possible.  
They pressed their lips together multiple times, soft first kisses, and Lance didn’t want them to stop ever. He felt Keith’s hand wandering up, holding him close, slowly messing up his hair.  
Time didn’t matter anymore.  
Just before they were about to cross the line to a more intense way of kissing, Lance remembered they were in a supermarket with Pidge and Hunk. Slowly Lance leaned back, just enough to break the kiss.

“That was nice,” he breathed.

“Yeah,” Keith said, leaned back up and kissed him again.

And Lance didn’t have any willpower to withdraw again.

~~

“Where the hell have you been?” Pidge asked reproachfully when Keith and Lance arrived with some bottles of soft drinks at the cash-out. They scanned quickly their guilty faces and Pidge’s eyes widened. “Never mind, we got everything.”

“Right,” Lance said and he was absolutely sure he was blushing but what the hell, he just kissed the most beautiful person in the universe (multiple times). “Let’s head out, gang, I’m starving.”

This time Keith drove up the bike alone and the others took the bus and the groceries. From the bus stop on top, it was only a ten-minute walk through the woods to the cabin. Thankfully neither Hunk nor Pidge asked him about whatever had happened in the supermarket.

“Oh this is very nice,” Hunk said as they entered the cabin. “I could live here.” He regarded the kitchenette. “It’s a bit tiny but it’ll do.”

They started unpacking the groceries and soon Hunk was shouting commands at his three friends who were too scared of his authority as a chef to disobey.

“LANCE, DON’T CUT THE PEPPERS TOO SMALL, IF I WANTED PAPRIKA EXTRACT I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT SOME POWDER!”

“Jeez, calm down,” Lance whined and gave Keith a helpless look who just snickered.

“Don't ask me, I don’t even know what we cook,” Keith whispered and quickly planted a kiss on Lance's cheek when the others weren't watching.

 

It was early afternoon when they had finally finished cooking, had eaten the most splendid meal with way too many side dishes and lay spread out in the cabin.  
Hunk and Pidge lay next to each other on the sleeping coach, Lance sat cross-legged at Pidge’s feet and Keith sat in an old armchair.

“The cook needs a nap,” Hunk mumbled and closed his eyes.

“The eater, too,” Pidge agreed and folded their hands under their head. “Good night.”

Keith and Lance looked at each other.

“We could go get some more logs for the fireplace,” Keith proposed.

“Yeah, get out,” Pidge grunted and bumped their feet against Lance.

“Ouch.”

Although Lance hadn’t been tired it was good to be back outside and to breathe in the chill autumn air. In the near distance, he could hear the waves of the ocean – a sound that was always soothing to him, no matter if it was the Pacific or the Golf of Mexico.

“Logs?” Lance asked him outside. “The fireplace was full of logs.”

“I know,” Keith said.

Lance pointed a finger at him.

“You lured me outside.”

“I did,” Keith admitted and walked up closer to him.

Lance couldn’t quite believe that they had kissed only a couple of hours before. He was the luckiest boy in the universe.

“I meant to ask you something,” he said and took Keith’s hands in his.

“Sure.”

“To be honest I can’t stop thinking about it and it starts messing with my brain a bit,” Lance said and bit his lip. The question he was about to ask had spooked through his head all night and day and he couldn’t shake it off, no matter how good things between them were at this point.

“Oh. What is it?”

Lance leaned his back against the cabin wall and pulled Keith closer to him.

“Yesterday, when you said you had reversed time as well...you didn’t tell me when. Did it, did it involve me?”

Keith stared at him, scanning Lance’s eyes. Then he slowly shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he said evasively. Then he leaned forward and kissed Lance. For a moment Lance forgot about everything and melted into the kiss, carefully cradling Keith’s face with his hands.

“You know,” Lance whispered during a short break, “I could kiss you forever like this.”

“We can,” Keith answered, “if I reverse it over and over again.” With a smirk, he leaned back into the kiss but Lance turned his head away and put his hands firmly on Keith’s chest.

“Wait.” A weird feeling crept up his stomach. “Did you do this before?”

“What?”

“You know what I mean, Keith,” Lance said, feeling very uneasy at the thoughts that came to his mind. “Did you reverse time with me? Did you change things between us somehow?”

Keith took a small step back. Suddenly he looked exasperated.

“I didn’t mean to.”

Lance raised his eyebrows.

“But...you did? You did, didn’t you? How many times? When?”

“I just wanted us to be okay,” Keith said quietly. “That’s all I wanted. I didn’t have any control the first time and then things just...happened.”

Lance took his hand.

“Keith. I need to know, please. Did you reverse time on purpose or not?”

Keith stared uncomfortably at the ground between them.

“I was scared, Lance.”

“Okay. I get it,” Lance said.

“You were finally back here in Arcadia Bay and on one hand I was so glad to see you again but,” he looked back up at Lance, “I was also so angry and shocked because of everything that had happened in the past.”

He swallowed hard.

“I messed up, Lance. I messed up big time. Not only once.”

His voice wavered and suddenly Lance was very scared what he might have to hear. But he wanted to know, he had to know.

“Tell me, please.”

“I don’t want to.”

“You have to tell me!” Lance insisted.

“It will only make things worse!” Keith said loudly and tried to withdraw his hand but Lance kept holding it.

“What did you change?” Lance almost shouted. “Tell me!”

“I don’t want to!”

“I NEED TO KNOW!”

 

**Then everything went white.**

 

Lance saw himself in the restroom of the diner. It was like watching a memory from an upper angle. No chance of interaction, just the scene in front of him.

 

“Unwise? Do you consider getting beat up by a ninja in the restroom of a pancake diner particularly clever?” the other Lance said with a shaky voice.

“Ninja,” Keith repeated amused, “what are you, like twelve?”

“Right now I actually feel like thirteen,” Lance said and retrieved a red toy lion from his pocket.

“I told you I’d give it back to you,” he said quietly and offered it Keith.

Keith slowly dropped the paper towel. His eyes widened.  
He took the red lion in his hands. He examined it for a few seconds. His gaze turned back up.

“Lance?”

“The one and only.”

“Are you kidding me?” Keith said slowly, looking back at the red toy lion. “You come back here after all these years and the first thing you do is giving me back the lion.”

“What?” Lance said surprised. “But we said we’d hold onto them for each other.”

“Well, too late,” Keith said in anger, "yours is somewhere at the bottom of the sea." Then he threw the lion on the bathroom floor and left without looking back.

The other Lance stared speechlessly at the closing door.

 

**Everything went white.**

 

They were back in the cabin. Lance recognized this memory, it was still the same night they had met and he saw the other Lance and Keith lying next to each other on the sleeping couch.

 

The other Lance suddenly whirled around and hovered above Keith, wildly tapping against his chest.

“Dude.”

“What?”

“DUDE.”

“Would you stop punching me?”

Lance stopped the tapping and let his hand rest against Keith’s chest.

“You punched Lotor. He’s my arch-nemesis. Gosh, Keith! KEITH! You’re the one who broke his nose!”

“I did.”

“People are still talking about that punch! You are amazing! I give him shit every day and you punched him. We are the best team ever. Where have you been all my life?”

 

Keith froze for a moment, then forcefully pushed Lance away and sat up.

“Where I’ve been? I was here, in Arcadia Bay, where you fucking left me like someone who wasn’t good enough anymore.”

“I told you so many times how sorry I was that we left, dude,” Lance said desperately.

“It’s not about you leaving!” Keith yelled and got up.

“Well, then what?!” Lance yelled back. “I’m kinda lost here, tell me! You’re so fucking resentful and I have honestly no clue what I did to deserve this.”

Keith stared at him in disbelief.

“Are you really that naive?”

“Oh my God, YES, the fuck, I am, okay?” Lance exclaimed and threw his arms in the air. “I am the most naive person. I thought you knew that.”

Keith shook his head.

“I don’t believe you. You had to know, you just – you had to know.”

“Know WHAT, Keith, goddammit, just tell me, this is infuriating and--”

“Fucking hell, I WAS IN LOVE WITH YOU, LANCE.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“I honestly don’t know if I did.”

Keith sighed and avoided his eyes.

“It was the summer I realized I was, you know, gay. And also in love with you." His voice was very shaky. "That’s why I was different. I felt different about you.”

“You were in love with me,” Lance dead-panned. “Like, in-love-in-love?”

“As much as a thirteen-year-old knows about falling in love. Yes.”

“Oh.”

“That’s all you got? ‘Oh’? You never replied to my note, never.”

“What note are you talking about, man?”

“THE NOTE I LEFT YOU!”

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I DON’T KNOW ABOUT ANY NOTE!”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS? YOU ARE SUCH AN ASSHOLE, LANCE!”

 

Slowly the memory got blurry.

 

**And everything got white.**

 

Lance saw himself in his dorm room. He was nervously pacing the room, Hunk with him, the TV on mute.

“So we don’t know who’s after him?” Hunk asked nervously.

“Some bad people. He will be here any second,” Lance said and glanced outside the window.

Suddenly there were loud noises in front of his room. The door flew open and Keith almost crashed inside.

“She’s here, she’s here, oh God, you gotta hide,” he shouted.

The steps in the hallway got louder. Things happened too fast.

There was a shot and Hunk fell down on the floor. A dark hooded figure appeared in the door frame, gun drawn.

“No, please,” Keith pleaded, “please--”

Another shot and Lance got down.

 

The memory ended abruptly.

 

**And everything got white.**

 

It was the memory of Lance and Keith hiding in the janitor’s closet.

 

First, everything was dark, then a faint light illuminated the room.

“Hi,” the other Keith said softly in front of him with a smile on his lips, his bangs half-covering his eyes.

Lance stared at him.

Then Keith took a step forward and carefully touched Lance’s face.

“What are you doing?” Lance whispered anxiously.

“I am about to kiss you,” Keith said quietly and leaned up to him.

Lance put his hands on Keith’s arms and slowly pushed him away.

“Keith, I really like you. Very much. But this is--”

The light of the phone went out and they were back in darkness again.

“I don’t know. This is too much right now.”

There was an even darker silence.

“I’m so sorry, Lance,” Keith whispered. “I screwed up.”

“No, don’t say that, Keith. I'm just...very nervous right now.”

“I will fix it.”

 

**And everything went white.**

 

Same night. It was the moment before Keith had turned back time because his wish to stay with Lance in the dark corner between the dormitory walls had been so strong. Lance knew about this because he had touched Keith's back when it had happened. 

 

**And everything went white.**

 

It was the current day. Keith and Lance were back in the supermarket.

It was the time-reversing moment Lance had actually consented to because he had held Keith’s hand. The one where he actually had wanted to make a change.

 

Then they were back, no flash to white, no nothing.  
Lance found himself back outside the cabin, holding Keith’s hand. He quickly let it go. What he just had learned shocked him to the core.

“Lance, let me explain,” Keith said immediately.

Lance shook his head. Did this really happen? And then un-happen? 

“You changed EVERYTHING!” he shouted. “You manipulated me! Us!”

“I didn’t manipulate you, Lance, all I did was to change my own stupid fucked up shit.”

Lance threw his hands up in the air.

“You can’t choose whatever reaction you like best. Not from me or anyone else! And dismiss the ones you didn’t like. This isn’t how life works!”

“You changed things yourself, Lance!”

“I FUCKING SAVED YOUR LIFE! YOU CAN’T COMPARE ME NOT KISSING YOU TO YOUR OWN DEATH!”

Lance stared at him, impatiently waiting for a reaction.  
Keith kept looking at him, desperation in his eyes.

“I don’t know what to say,” he said quietly. “I don’t want to fight with you. Again.”

“Well, we’re right in the middle of it,” Lance said and grabbed his wrist. “Don’t you even DARE to change anything about this.”

“I won’t.”

Lance shook his head, almost huffing a laugh.

“How do you expect me to trust you after what I’ve just seen?”

“I am so sorry, Lance, I swear to you I won’t do it again. I already promised you yesterday, remember?”

Lance pressed his lips together and closed his eyes shut.

“You know what’s the worst part?” Lance asked. “A part of me actually wished you could undo this conversation. To prevent me from seeing all this. But it would be wrong, Keith. And you know that. And it would turn into this huge thing that would always stand between us. Because you would know about it and I wouldn't. Doesn’t that sound familiar to you?”

“Guys?”

Keith and Lance turned around.  
Hunk and Pidge had appeared outside the cabin and stared at them.

“We heard some yelling. Is everything alright?” Pidge asked cautiously.

Lance stared back at Keith.

Keith looked small and broken and a part of Lance wanted to-- no. All these weeks he had struggled to come to terms with his feelings and then there was Keith constantly changing everything, forming their relationship, maybe even Lance himself, to his own wishes. He couldn’t just pretend nothing had happened. Even if it wasn’t part of the timeline of this universe anymore.

“Nothing is alright,” Lance said to Keith. He turned around to Hunk and Pidge. “I’m taking a walk, I see you back in Blackwell.”

Then he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket, looked one last time at a shattered Keith and walked through the woods toward the lighthouse.

When he was far away for them to see him any longer he started running. He wanted to get away as fast as possible. He ran and ran until he reached the bus stop. Out of breath, he sat down on the bench. He didn’t know when the next bus to town was coming and he didn’t care.  
It was only early afternoon but it had started to get dark. Gray clouds covered the sky and some raindrops found their way down on earth. A cold wind came up and Lance put up the hoodie of his jacket.

Why did Keith change the time?  
What if he had changed something already, at this moment? Lance wouldn't even be able to tell. Not without touching Keith when he reversed time.

His leg twitched nervously. He was so angry. About Keith for changing everything. About him for having wanted to know. About the universe for messing with both of them.  
And a part of him wanted to snap them both back into the supermarket, kissing each other behind the toy aisle. Keith’s hand in his hair. His hands pulling Keith closer.

He got out his phone.

2 missed calls from Keith.

Some text messages.

 

keith: please call me back

keith: I am so sorry

keith: tell me what to do to make it right again

 

Lance felt a pain in his heart. He hated fights. He hated them. But he couldn’t back down right now. He didn’t know how this would change things between them. Again. But growing up with a big family who got into arguments a lot, Lance knew that the silent treatment would never be an option for him.

 

lance: I need some time to think

lance: some space

keith: okay

keith: I am here if you want to talk

 

His other friends had texted him as well.

 

hunk: what happened?

hunk: keith is literally shaking, are you alright?

 

He didn’t know what to reply so he switched to another chat.

 

pidge: LANCE what is going on

pidge: keith hasn’t said a word since you left

pidge: I just know you yelled at him

pidge: and I know you’re my friend and there was probably a reason

pidge: but I can’t leave him like this

 

Raindrops fell down on his display when he typed his reply.

 

lance: he can do it too

lance: time reversing

lance: he did it to me, changed things with me

lance: with us

lance: the time we spent together

pidge: oh shit

 

Lance huddled deeper into his jacket. The rain got stronger and his teeth chattered in the cold. It seemed strange that it had been a cloudless perfect autumn day less than an hour ago and now it looked like a big storm was coming up. Pacific weather, right? Always changing.

How fitting, he thought.

 

lance: can u stay with him for a while?

lance: I need some time to think

pidge: of course

lance: thx

 

After ten minutes of waiting in the rain, he considered calling a cab when finally the local bus stopped in front of him. Lance spent the ride into town staring out of the window and replayed the other timelines in his head.

Keith yelling at him, him yelling at Keith. The misunderstanding about the note in the red lion they had in Adam's cabin. It could have been resolved, he thought. Even with all the yelling and accusations, it would have been possible. It had been a misunderstanding, some bad miscommunication.  
Yes, he had liked their talk at the lighthouse. But there would also have been a million other ways. And they would have worked just the same. Because Lance would have still been the same. And Keith would have still been the same.

The situation where he and Hunk had got killed wasn’t open for discussion. He had done the same for Keith and Pidge and didn’t regret a thing. If Keith hadn’t saved him, he wouldn’t be here tearing his hair out to figure out what do to, what to feel.

And then there was Keith and him in the janitor’s closet.  
Keith about to kiss him, the original Lance freaking out.  
He closed his eyes. He remembered his own moment in this closet. How he had looked at Keith, just looked at him, and the realization had suddenly hit him. That he had a crush on him. That this had been romantic feelings all along.  
And the original Keith had made him skip this slow realization.  
But then again, Keith also did reverse it. And had chosen another outcome.  
But even if Keith hadn’t reversed it, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world, right? And most certainly not the end of Lance’s feelings for Keith. For all he knew, Lance might have kissed him later that night. Who could know what might have happened if Keith hadn’t changed it.  
Because he wanted to have his perfect moment.

No, Lance suddenly realized. He didn’t want to have a perfect moment for himself.  
Keith had wanted to be perfect for Lance. He had wanted Lance to have the perfect moment, too.  
So he had waited. He had given Lance this indeed perfect moment. A moment Lance had already put into his personal hall of fame of perfect moments.

And yes, Keith had promised him the night before that he wouldn't change anything anymore. 

The feeling of anger started to diffuse inside his chest. What was right and what was wrong with the power they shouldn’t even have?  
Keith had tried to make things perfect although it would have been enough for them to be themselves. Not something staged, not countless tries to get it right.  
"Oh Keith," Lance whispered and put his head against the window, "what did you do."

Rapidly the bus came to a halt and Lance bumped his head against the glass. It was the stop at the city center and he hurried outside. The rain had got even stronger and he ran across the street and entered the Two Whales. The warmth huddled against him and he took off his drenched jacket.  
It was very full – a lot of people had searched shelter in the storm. Lance had to use his elbows to push himself through to the counter.

“Hey Lance,” Shay greeted him. “How are you?”

“Good,” he said automatically, “wow, you have a lot of customers today.”

“Yes. Are you here on your own? You can sit at the counter if you like. No booths free at the moment.”

Lance dropped his wet jacket next to his feet and took a seat on the bar stool.

“What can I get you?”

“A large hot chocolate, please.”

Shay scanned him for a moment.

“Coming.” 

Lance took out his phone and put it in front of him on the counter.  
No new messages.

He typed a message to his mother who replied immediately, telling him about the new plants in the hotel garden. Attached was a picture of her and his father with shovels in their hands, proudly standing in front of a flower garden. Lance wished they were here with him. Just somewhere nearby. In this town. Where he could reach them anytime.  
He typed another message, all in Spanish.

 

lance: guess who I ran into the other day

lance: keith

madre: oh what a lovely surprise! how is my other son doing?

 

“Mi otro hijo” made Lance smile.

 

lance: he’s good, we talked a lot

lance: but also had a fight just now

lance: some misunderstandings :/ that sucks.

madre: you will figure it out, niño

madre: you have always been so good friends :)

madre: how does he look? send me a picture!

 

He sent her the picture of Keith in Seattle.

 

madre: a handsome young man

 

Lance’s heart skipped a beat when his mother called him “guapo”. He shouldn’t take this word as any kind of approval but it felt so right.

 

madre: tell him to come to visit us!

lance: I will :)

 

“Here’s your chocolate,” Shay said and put down the most magnificent hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles in front of him.

“Wow, thanks, Shay,” Lance said. “This looks amazing.” He took a sip. Perfect, warm, sweet. Maybe his mother was right. They would figure it out.

Shay winked and got back to work.

“Perfect drink for weather like that,” a voice said next to him.

Lance looked to the side. An old woman huddled in a dark gray coat with a big scarf and a gray hat looked at him with kind eyes.

“Yeah, it is,” Lance replied. Then he stared back at his phone. He wasn’t in the mood for small-talk with random strangers.

 His phone beeped.

 

pidge: where are u? shiro is looking for you

 

Lance furrowed his brows. Shiro? Why would Shiro be looking for him?

“I was wondering, young man, if you might help an old lady with her car.”

Lance turned back to her. “The storm surprised me.” She pointed outside the window with the rain lashing against the glass. “I know,” she let out a laugh, “I am probably too old to drive but I had to get some treats for my cat. He’s an old gentleman, you see. Needs his catnips.”

Lance just stared at her, kept nodding politely and smiled. He’s been raised a decent boy after all.

“How may I help you?” he asked.

“My eyes are not so good anymore. I only live five minutes away from the diner and I need to get home.”

Her hands gripped tightly the little bag she was carrying with her.

“Would you like me to drive you home?” Lance asked.

The old lady nodded gratefully.

“I will give you ten dollars to take back a cab of course.”

Lance glanced back at his phone. Then back at the old lady, waiting for a response. He clenched his teeth. She looked so helpless and no one else in the full diner was paying attention to her. Shiro had to wait. He probably just wanted to talk about Keith.

“Ah, alright,” he said, took one last sip of his hot chocolate, took his phone and jacket and offered her his arm. “Let’s go.”

“Thank you, my son, bless you.”

They slowly walked outside and the rain poured over them.

“My car is over there,” she said and lead the way across the parking lot to a black BMW.

“Wow, nice ride, lady,” Lance said approvingly. “I have to warn you though, I’ve never driven on American ground so far, only in Cuba.”

“Oh,” she said surprised, “Cuba! Oh dear. This is a lovely place.”

She fumbled in her handbag and got out the keys.

“Oh, your trunk is not quite closed,” Lance noticed. He went up to reopen and close it shut when he felt a dull throb on his head.

 

Then everything went dark.

 

The first thing he noticed was the lack of rain on his face. His head hurt badly and he felt sickish but he forced himself to open his eyes.

Lance found himself on the ground of an old barn. For a second he thought how surreal it was. Had he skipped time? Was this another reality? He tried to get up but his hands were tied behind his back and his legs were too weak. His back rested against something hard, maybe an old wooden box.

Panic took hold of him. He was held captive. How did he get here? What was the last thing he--

The old lady.  
He had opened the trunk and the trunk had been empty.  
And then he'd been here.

“He’s awake!”

Lance tried to turn around. The voice was younger, much younger, and female. Probably.

A woman walked into his field of view.

“Hey Lance,” she said and squatted down in front of him. She had short black hair that obviously didn’t like to be tamed, dark eyes and wore a black leather jacket. Around Shiro’s age, end-twenties at best. With a tilted head she regarded him curiously. “I thought I better tie your hands. You have quite a way with keys, don’t you?”

Lance stared at her in horror.

“You’re her.”

“I am,” she said.

“What do you want?” Lance asked wearily and wiggled his hands. A futile effort.

“Oh, what I want?” she asked and got up. Slowly she walked up to the side of the barn and opened the door. It was still raining. The drops hit hard on the ceiling. The woman leaned at the door frame and looked outside.

“You see, I want a lot of things. I want Keith to be gone. He’ll be here soon. I sent him a lovely picture of you one minute ago.” She looked back at him. “It’s quite sweet that you woke up. Gave you a chance to say goodbye.”

“No. You’re not gonna kill him,” Lance shouted, desperately pulling at the rope around his hands. “I won’t let you.”

“Really?” she said with a condescending smile. “Oh, I don’t think you can stop me this time. And the other guy neither.” She nodded at her shoulder. "He's not exactly a sharpshooter."

“Why do you want to kill him? He didn’t do anything.” Lance asked. He knew he was able to reverse time in case Keith was in danger, maybe he could stop all this. But he also needed to know why.

“He exists,” another voice said. “And that’s an issue.”

Lance looked to the side. It was the old lady from the diner, now with open long hair and no hat. She even looked younger.

“Who are you people?” Lance asked in confusion. She stared at him for a brief moment. Then Lance recognized her. He hadn’t seen a picture of her for ages but the hair, he recognized the hair. Lotor’s hair.

“You are Mrs. Galra. Zarkon’s wife,” he said bleakly.

 

They knew. They had to know that Keith was Zarkon’s son and the heir. A lot of things started to connect in Lance’s head but there were still some blanks to fill.

“You were such a polite little boy in the diner, you can call me Haggar,” the older woman said.

“You know about Keith.”

Haggar huffed and the other woman spat on the ground.

“I know about that brat, I have always known about Zarkon’s mistake,” Haggar said with hatred in her eyes. “We’ve been married for five years when we got stuck in a bad place. We both had our affairs to avoid seeing each other.”

“You don’t have to tell him your sad life story, Haggar.”

Lance’s eyes darted back to the younger woman. Haggar waved her hand at her in a dismissive way and kept talking.

“My dear husband had fun with the Kogane girl,” she said and rolled her eyes, “I had my own fun. I got Lotor, he got that other kid.”

Keith.

“And it would have worked out with my boy, oh, it almost did. If there hadn’t been this prying new lawyer at Zarkon’s side who started sneaking around. So,” Haggar shrugged, almost like she wanted to apologize, “I was the one who had to rethink.”

“Some pretty good thinking you did there,” the other woman said.

“Who is she?” Lance asked Haggar.

“Ah,” Haggar said with a smirk and waved her finger, “my husband had other women before me, you see. And he left another mistake.”

“That’s enough,” the woman hissed.

“What turned out to be a mistake had become our silver lining,” Haggar continued. “That’s Acxa, Keith’s older half-sister. And the one who would be queen.” A smile spread on her face. “Well, the one who will be queen. As soon as Keith is out of the picture, of course. I can’t let our hard work get into the hands of the witless people Zarkon surrounds us with. He has always been a bad judge of character. Acxa, yes. Found her in the depths of Portland’s darkest gang. And now she is family. Right, darling?”

“Right,” she said coldly.

Lance stared at Acxa. Now that he knew, he began to see similarities. The dark hair, the dark eyes. Keith had a half-sister. And a father. And was still in mortal danger. Lance shook his head.

“You don’t need to kill him, you’re, you’re older. You’re the heir. He doesn’t even want it,” he tried to reason with her.

“Lance,” Acxa said in a patronizing way, “welcome to the patriarchy. The hereditary title comes with a hierarchy. And those whose birth certificate says ‘female’ always lose.”

“Then, I don’t know, sue them!”

Acxa laughed.

“Oh, Lance. It’s not that simple. And the papers of the foundation state it very clearly. I’m the last in line. But,” she added and walked up to him, “I am in line. And soon I’ll be the only one in line.”

“Won’t happen,” Lance said, his eyes fixed at her, “I won’t let it happen.” He let out a panicky laugh. “You don’t know what I can do, you really don’t. No matter how many times you will kill him, I will be right here.”

She raised her eyebrows and looked at Haggar.

“What’s his damage?”

Haggar shrugged.

“Headwound?”

“Oh, no,” Lance said firmly and felt a wild energy building up in his body, “you want to kill him because you want him gone. I’m gonna save him because I want him to stay. Make your guess who will keep up this game longer.”

Acxa eyed him strangely.

“You are weird.”

Lance said nothing. Let them try. They won’t succeed.

There was a rumble in the distance, slowly drawing closer and louder. Acxa walked quickly up to the door and looked outside.

“Here comes our special guest,” she said and turned to Haggar. “Are you ready?”

Lance heard the click of a gun.

“Yes, honey.”

Acxa hid behind a barrel close to the door, Haggar disappeared somewhere back out of Lance’s field of view. Lance identified the grumbling sound as the engine of Keith’s motorcycle. He took a deep breath.

A lot was at stake.  
No.  
Everything was at stake.  
Not only Keith but also himself.  
He had the ability to reverse time and he would use it until everything would be alright.  
Not one white flash sooner.  
The loud grumble died abruptly. Keith was here.

He looked to the door.  
Waiting.  
He saw Acxa crouching in the shadow, a hand on the gun at her waist.  
Seconds passed.

Then Keith appeared in the door.  
He looked at Lance.  
And Lance noticed that his eyes looked so very tired.  
Then he gave Keith a confident nod.

It began.

Lance wasn’t able to recount everything that had happened after Keith had appeared at the barn.  
Every move had looked like it belonged to an elaborate cinematic choreography. A step here, a punch there, a gunshot in the ceiling, bodies fighting on the ground. It had looked as if it had been rehearsed countless times already. And Lance knew what that had to mean.  
And he had felt something white flashing before his eyes, several times, but it was gone too soon, only a faint feeling stuck in his memory.  
Eventually Haggar lay unconsciously on the ground, close to Lance. He stretched out his leg and kicked the gun out of her reach. Meanwhile Keith was pinning down Acxa. He took up the gun Lance had kicked towards him and raised it at her.

“Don’t move or I’ll shoot,” he said out of breath and got up. She lay face down on the earthy ground, hay in her hair, some blood in her face, not saying a word. Her hands were next to her head. “Lance, are you okay?”

“I’m, I'm good,” Lance stammered.

He hadn’t heard the sound of the sirens until now.  
A few seconds later the barn was illuminated by the blue lights of the police cars outside.

“Lance, stay calm,” Keith said, a nervous shake in his voice.

A cop entered the barn through the door.

“Gun down,” he shouted at Keith. Slowly Keith put the gun down and moved away from Acxa with raised hands.

“She wanted to kill us,” Lance yelled, still tied up in his place. “It was self-protection!”

Shiro and Adam appeared in the background.

“It’ll be alright, Lance,” Keith said calmly and got down on his knees. “It’s over. We’re safe.”

~~

It took a lot of reassuring to stop Lance from shouting at the police who had cuffed Keith and led him into the back of a police car.

“They can’t do that, he saved me! It was the Galras! They wanted to kill him!”

“We know, Lance, we know,” Adam repeated again. “Everything is fine, they have to take him into custody, it’s just normal procedure.” He turned to Shiro. “He needs to go to the hospital.”

“I AM FINE!” Lance shouted.

Four hours later Lance sat in the waiting room of the hospital in a town close to Arcadia Bay, slowly drinking a cup of hot chocolate he had gotten from the vending machine. It was incredibly sweet. Maybe this time he would finish his drink, he thought bitterly.

Shiro had dropped him off so Lance could get a CAT and MI scan, just in case.

The battery of his phone was low but it was enough to keep texting with his friends while he waited for the results. He had already updated them about the situation but Pidge and Hunk had learned about it from Shiro when he had appeared in the cabin to come and keep them safe. Adam had been able to connect the attacker, Acxa, to the Galra and their mission of staying in power. But, well, they had gotten to Lance first.

But the strangest thing had been that Keith had already left the cabin before Shiro had arrived to tell him the news. Lance reminded his confused friends that Acxa had texted him about Lance being held hostage but even though his head still hurt, he knew that it didn't match the timeline. When he had woken up in the barn, Acxa had told him about the picture she had sent to Keith only one minute ago. From the lighthouse to the barn it was a 30-minute drive. Keith had been there in less than 5 minutes.

If that meant what Lance thought it would mean then Keith had somehow managed to turn back time for almost half an hour. Which was both scary and astonishing.

 

hunk: are u still waiting?

lance: yes

lance: I am tired

hunk: the offer stands

lance: no, don’t come. i’m sure they will let me go soon.

lance: I feel fine

pidge: hang in there

 

Lance tried to look outside the window but it was dark. He could only see his own reflection in the window glass, illuminated by the cold hospital lights.

The TV in the room was on mute. A weatherman was on screen, talking with a serious face about something Lance couldn’t hear, pointing at the US map of Oregon. The news ticker warned about a heavy storm on Oregon’s coast heading from the Pacific towards Arcadia Bay. Lance’s eyes glanced at the logo of the TV station. National TV? Wow, the little town was rarely mentioned anywhere except in connection with the Galras. 

Lance checked his phone again. Keith hadn’t answered to any of his texts. Only Shiro had sent him an update that he shouldn’t worry. It didn’t help. He worried a lot. 

“Mr. McClain?”

Lance looked up. A young nurse stood in front of him.

“Yes?”

“The doctor checked your results. There’s no serious damage to your brain or skull. The blackout was caused by the hit on your head. You have a very light cerebral concussion. Usually we would keep your overnight but,” he nodded towards the window behind him, “the storm has caused us some problems. We had to close a wing because a tree hit the ceiling.”

Lance eyes widened.

“Oh damn.”

“Yes, it’s a nightmare. And to be honest,” he confessed, “I’m not sure how long we can keep this hospital running. We probably have to transfer some of our patients to Portland soon. I hope the storm won’t get any stronger.”

“Fingers crossed,” Lance said and gave him an empathetic smile.

“Thanks. Anyway. Please just sign these papers and you’re good to go.”

~~

It was late at night when Lance entered the dormitory of his college. He had paid the cab driver with the twenty dollar bill Shiro had given him earlier.

Pidge and Hunk had waited for him and hugged him wordlessly.  
There were no words to explain what had happened.  
They would never understand what Keith had done this evening. Even Lance would probably never know the full extent of it.  
The way he had looked when Lance saw him in the door of the barn.  
The exhaustion in his eyes. The number of times Keith had to reverse the scene in the barn. The flashes of white Lance remembered to see, very faint white flashes. Lance didn’t know how many times Keith had died this night. Or how many times he had died.  
It was so messed up.

Their fight had become so meaningless in this hour.  
It would be ridiculous if they weren't able to fix this.

His friends dragged the mattresses off their beds into Lance’s room and they all slept on the mattress-covered floor. Lance told them more thoroughly what had happened, skipping the part about the time-reverse-events. He still hadn’t told Hunk and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. And Pidge was smart enough to guess what might have happened.

At 4 am Lance received a text message.

 

shiro: they let keith go

shiro: he is alright

shiro: he hasn’t got his phone in case you tried to call him

 

Lance wanted to cry in relief. He had been so worried.

 

shiro: he is on his way to portland with adam

shiro: there’s a lab to take paternity tests within 1 day

shiro: this needs to happen asap

 

Hopefully everything would soon come to an end, Lance thought.

 

lance: thank you for the update

shiro: i’m going later today

shiro: do you want to come with me?

 

Lance exhaled loudly and sat up. He wanted to see Keith more than anything in this universe. And tell him, no, prove him that they were able to go through fire together and come out safe and sound. No matter what had happened.

 

lance: yes please

shiro: i’ll pick you up at noon

shiro: I have to get some paperwork done….

lance: thank you

shiro: and get some sleep lance

shiro: it was a long day

lance: I will try

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey they kissed and then everyone went to shit yay :))))
> 
> and whaaat, zarkon is now very very probably keith's son and acxa is very probably keith's half-sister, canon WHO!??!?!?? never heard of her in my entire LIFE.  
> also lance almost said "smash the patriarchy" to acxa but the awful author decided to cut it. you should know this. this whole fic could have turned into a crack fic one billion times already if hadn't been able to restrain myself. [chuck shurley voice: writing is hard]
> 
> so much happened in this chapter, i am still confused.


	9. Day Before The Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content note: eh, very implied sex and implied eating

###  **Day Before The Storm**

 

Their drive to Portland was mostly quiet.

Shiro asked him “are you okay?” and Lance didn’t know if he meant him or him and Keith. Together. Whatever they were. So he said “we had a fight” and Shiro asked “what about” and Lance said “about Keith avoiding fights”.

“But you’re not afraid of fights, are you?” Shiro asked.

Yes, Lance was afraid of fights. But he was more afraid of people not telling him the truth. A hidden truth might do more damage than an inconvenient truth.  
He said nothing.

“Keith only knows the worst outcome a fight can have,” Shiro told him, “the very worst.”

Lance stared outside the window.

~~

The car came to a halt in the parking garage of the hotel. Shiro turned off the motor.  
The echo of the silence started humming in Lance’s head. They were here. He was about to see Keith. His leg twitched nervously.

“Shall we?” Shiro asked.

Lance nodded without looking at him and got out.

The ride in the elevator was silent.  
Parking Level -2  
Parking Level -1  
Lobby 0  
The door opened.

He could see Adam close to the reception, intensely staring at the screen of a muted TV covering the local weather.

Then he saw Keith.  
He sat on a leather couch, all by himself. His elbows rested on his thighs, his fingers interlocked under his chin, holding his face. His eyes were directed at the floor.

They got out of the elevator but Lance stopped right behind the closing doors.  
What if Keith didn’t want to see him. He didn’t even know what to say. What to do. Where to pick up after everything that had happened.

Shiro didn’t stop but walked quickly up to Keith.

“Hey kiddo,” he could hear him say. Keith looked up. Adam turned around to both of them.

“Shiro,” Keith breathed. Then he got up and threw his arms around him. Shiro hugged him back and held him close.  
Lance thought it was the most needed hug ever.  
Soon Adam put his arms around them, too.

Lance felt out of place.  
This was a family moment.

After a while they drew back and he saw Shiro quietly say something to Keith. Then he walked with Adam back to the TV on the other side.

And Keith turned towards the elevator.  
And he saw Lance.  
And Lance looked at him.  
And then he slowly started moving.

His heart beat fast, he was anxious and his hands were cold.

“Hey,” Lance said quietly when he finally stood in front of him.

Keith looked as anxious as Lance felt, his eyes cautiously flickering between Lance’s. Then he slowly dropped his gaze.

“Lance,” he whispered, “I am so--”

Keith stopped talking when Lance pulled him into a hug.  
After a brief moment, Keith woke up from his frozen moment and carefully put his arms around Lance, too.

“We will fix this, you and me,” Lance whispered, "we will fix everything."

~~

Keith and Lance spent the next few hours in Keith’s hotel room. It was exhausting to talk about everything that had happened, especially between them. They had become loud, they had become quiet. There had been tears, there had been nervous laughter.

But it had been worth it, to go through all these emotions together.

“Do you really believe we hadn’t been able to work through all these things? All these situations?” Lance asked.

“I don’t know,” Keith said and stared at his hands.

Lance shook his head sadly.

“Why do you have so little faith?”

“I had just gotten you back,” he said and cautiously put a hand on Lance’s, “I was so scared you might leave me again. And then I screwed things up.”

“You don’t need to show me a ‘better’ version of you because every version of you is the best one.”

“I have flaws, Lance, a lot of them. I’m far away from being perfect. You, on the other hand, are pretty much perfect. Always have been. To me.”

“I’m not perfect,” Lance said and blushed, “really not. I have some issues. I say things without thinking, I am too much Lance and sometimes...” he took a deep breath, “sometimes I’m not doing so well. There are a lot of things you don’t know about me yet. And I’m not sure you will like what you see.”

Keith looked at him and waited but Lance didn’t want to elaborate. Not now.

“Keith”, he said firmly, “the thing is: no matter what had happened, we would have fixed it. Together.” He took his hands in his. “You and me. There’s more than one way to walk on or road to take. Maybe we would have taken the longer way. Or even an unexpected shortcut. Maybe we’d have crossed a river taking a bloody boat. Or there'd been a bridge. But we’d have always been together, no matter what. The universe brought us back together, I am sure of it.”

“I don’t believe in something like fate or soul mates, Lance.”

“Me neither. I don’t think the universe brought us together because we were meant to be together,” Lance explained. “But it did and no matter why I’m glad it happened. Because...I want to be with you.”

“Me too.”

"Maybe that was all the universe needed to know."

Their afternoon was a change between talks, moments of silence and ordering room service. Adam and Shiro had knocked once on their door and asked if they liked to join them for a walk through Portland’s city but they had declined. Portland had to wait, the rest of the world had to wait.

“Lance,” Keith said and sat down next to him on the edge of the bed.

“Yes?”

“I want to tell you something. Actually,” he said, “I want to promise you something. I already did but I want to do it again.”

Carefully he took Lance’s hand and looked him in the eyes.

“I promise you to not change anything with you. Or anybody else. But most importantly with you. If we fight, we fight and we will pull through this together. Just like you said. If you want to yell at me, you can yell at me. And the other way around. And I hope you will trust me.”

Lance put one hand at Keith’s cheek and softly kissed him.

“I trust you.”

“Thank you.”

“But Keith,” Lance added with a smirk, “please tell me this promise doesn’t include situations of life or death?”

“Well, yes, of course,” Keith said earnestly, “if you die, you die.”

Lance’s opened his eyes wide and grabbed Keith’s arm.

“Dude??”

Keith’s mouth twitched and he started to smile.

“I obviously joked.”

Lance stared at him.

“That wasn’t funny.”

“Yes, it was.”

“I give it a 2 out of 10.”

Keith moved closer and softly bumped into Lance’s side.

“It was a solid 9.”

Lance grinned.  
They were back at being Lance and Keith.

“I am willing to give it a 3.”

Keith shook his head, then he leaned forward and kissed the corner of Lance’s mouth.

“I want a 9.”

Lance tried to kiss him back but Keith ducked away.

“Keith, come on,” he sighed, “don’t play with me. I am fragile.”

“I want you to give me a 9 out of 10 and you want to kiss me. I believe we have some kind of situation here.”

Lance looked at Keith in astonishment, then he started laughing.

“Now who’s the ridiculous one?”

Keith shrugged and put his tongue between his teeth.

“You are. Just say ‘Keith, thank you for the funny joke, I give it a 9 out of 10.’ It’s that simple.”

Lance leaned forward and eyed him.

“Did we switch personalities?”

“What? You don’t think I can’t be as childish as you? Remember I learned from the actual childish Lance in person.”

“Is this a challenge?”

“Do you want it to be a challenge?”

Lance gasped.

“You bet.”

“Well then,” Keith said and stood up, “go ahead.”

“Go ahead and what?” Lance asked cautiously.

“Try to kiss me.”

Lance stood up as well.

“Ah, you want me to chase you? Are you being serious?”

“Personally I don’t think you’re capable of but yes.”

“Ha,” Lance shouted, “you’re going down, Kogane.”

Keith took a few steps back and rolled up his sleeves.

“We will see.”

 

After two minutes of chasing him through the hotel room, Keith changed the game by grabbing the hotel key card and bolting through the door outside.

“Are you kidding me?” Lance shouted after him but followed him into the hallway. A challenge was a challenge. He saw Keith vanishing into an elevator when he--

“WAIT FOR ME!”

An elderly couple gave him a warm smile and stopped the door from closing.

“Thanks,” he said and got in with them. Keith gave him an evil grin from the other side of the elevator.

“That’s some weather outside, isn’t it?” asked the elderly woman.

“Sure, sure it is,” Lance said out of breath, “it’s really, uh, weatherly.”

Finally the door opened and they got out into the lobby.  
A lot of people waited on the couches and chairs, some with their luggage, everyone was talking about delayed flights at the airport and the damage caused by the storm.

“Why are we here?” Lance asked. “That’s cheating.”

Keith leaned against the wall next to the elevator.

“It’s not cheating, I felt like taking a walk.”

“More like a sprint,” Lance retorted.

Keith shrugged and crossed his arms in front of his body.

“Anyway. I think I won. You have to give me the 9 out of 10.”

“Why on Earth would I do that?”

Keith poked him in his chest.

“Because you didn’t manage to kiss me. See, I won.”

Lance looked around. True, every time they had kissed, they had been alone. He had always known the world had to learn at one point that he liked boys, girls or people of any kind of gender but that didn’t make it less scary. Quite the contrary. He knew about the baggage that came along with it, mostly from Veronica’s experience, but also from Pidge, the news or just life.

He looked back at Keith.

It was also a good thing about himself, Lance thought, that he sometimes forgot to overthink certain things. Because at this moment he didn’t care what his father might say, what his family might think, what conversations lay ahead of him and what fights he would have to fight just because he liked someone his own gender.

No, he didn’t think about all that at this moment.

Instead, he smiled at the most wonderful person in the universe in front of him, leaned slightly down to him and kissed him in the lobby full of people.

“I won.”

~~

Maybe things had escalated slightly.

Maybe Lance hadn’t stopped kissing Keith.

And Keith hadn’t stopped kissing Lance.

And maybe it had taken all their combined willpower to get back to their room without doing something incredibly, well, indecent.

Maybe they had realized that they had been 19 years old.

With a lot of feelings for each other.

Alone in a hotel room.

Maybe it had been awkward at first.

Maybe they had blushed because everything had been new.

Because there had been no manual for how to handle their feelings.

And they had to figure it out by themselves.

Maybe they had laughed a lot.

Because it hadn’t been perfect.

But they had tried.

And were happy.

Maybe even ridiculously happy.

~~

Lance remembered when he had been lying in his room, staring at Keith’s picture on his phone, not even a week ago.  
Now Keith was lying in person next to him, facing him, smiling at him.

“You are beautiful,” Lance whispered. He gently caressed Keith’s cheek with his fingers. “This is actually insane.”

Keith took his hand and kissed it.

“That’s an inappropriate use of the word insane.”

“Your face is inappropriate.”

Keith chuckled. Lance leaned towards him and pressed a kiss on his lips.

“Keith,” he breathed at his lips, “I like you so much. So much. It’s unreal.”

“Tell me about it,” Keith replied softly, “you made me realize I was gay when I was thirteen.”

He moved his head to look better at Lance.

“Lance, can I ask you something?”

“Yes.”

“When did you...since when do you like me? Like this?”

Lance pushed the bangs away from Keith’s face and looked him deep into his dark eyes.

“I’ve always liked you a lot,” he said. "But like this?" He kissed him briefly. "Could have started the day we met again in the diner.” Then he got quiet. "For all I know it could have also been six years ago, to some extent I hadn't realized yet. I don't know. And probably will never know."

“Let's just say it was one very long moment with no definite start," Keith said and pulled him on top of him.

"And definitely without an ending," Lance added and kissed him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's true, nothing bad happened in this chapter *looks around in confusion*


	10. Collide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content notes: damages by storm/tornado, food (eating)

###  **Collide**

 

“Hey, Lance.”

“Hmpf.”

“Get up.”

“En seguida. Dos minutos.”

“Lancey Lance.”

“Estoy despierto, mamá.”

Lance felt a kiss on his cheek. He turned around. His hair stuck messy in the air and he squinted against the light in the room. Morning had come to soon.

“You still speak Spanish when you wake up.” Keith smiled at him. “That’s cute. Buenas dias, guapo.”

Lance smiled sleepily.

“¿Hablas español?”

“I spent my entire childhood at your house,” Keith said, his fingers stroking through Lance’s hair, “of course yo hablo español. Un poco.”

“Two more minutes,” Lance mumbled and pulled Keith back into his arms.

“Bueno.”

He wasn’t tired anymore but it felt so good to feel Keith’s body close to his. Keith’s head on his chest, their hands loosely interlocked. There was so much love in Lance, he wanted to burst.

There was a knock on the door.

“No,” Lance said and held Keith tightly when he wanted to get up, “don’t go.”

Keith wriggled himself out of Lance’s embrace and walked to the door.

“Who’s there?” he asked.

“It’s me,” Shiro answered and Keith opened the door.

Lance couldn’t see the door from the bed but he could hear them.

“Good morning,” Shiro said, “how are you?”

“Good,” Keith said.

There was a moment of silence and then he heard the door shut behind them. Quickly he moved to the foot of the bed and looked around the corner. They were outside, he heard muffled voices. What an opportunity to crawl back under the bed sheets. Some minutes later there was a knock again. Lance yawned, got up and opened the door.

“New universe, who dis?”

Keith snorted.

“The one where I am Zarkon’s son.”

“Oh shit.”

“Shiro and I just called the lab,” he said and got back in, “it’s confirmed.”

Lance scratched his neck.

“So. You’re like. The heir.”

“Right,” Keith said, took a seat at the edge of the bed and stared at the carpet. “As soon as I’m twenty in two weeks.”

“What will happen with the foundation?” Lance asked and sat down next to him.

“I’m not sure. Adam said it wasn’t possible to, like, end it. Too many companies and other institutions depend on it. He will explain it to me later. There are some options. I can appoint some kind of executive secretary, like a manager. So I don’t have to actually deal with it although it's still, well, mine.

“That’s fucking amazing,” Lance said.

Keith looked at him.

“I don’t know. It’s surreal to me. Adam couldn’t even tell me how much money the foundation owned. It has to be a lot.”

Lance scanned his face briefly and then grinned.

“Is this where I say what a good catch you are?”

Keith answered with an eye roll and let himself fall back on the bed.

“Go get dressed, Shiro and Adam are already downstairs.”

Lance raised an eyebrow.

“You sure know how to be bossy already.”

~~

Soon they headed down and joined Adam and Shiro for breakfast. Through the huge windows, they could look all over the city. The sky was gray, there were big dark clouds above them and a few raindrops bashed against the glass.

A gloomy mood lingered in the breakfast room. The other guests kept checking their phones, glanced at the muted TV near the reception or stared outside in the grayness Portland had become. Both Shiro and Keith didn’t talk much, they picked at their scrambled eggs and toast. Lance and Adam were the only ones who did their very best to lighten the mood with meaningless small-talk.

“So Lance,” Adam said, “I heard your parents own a hotel in Cuba. I’m sure you’re quite the expert then, what’s your review of this hotel? Do you have anything to criticize?”

“Oh, actually I do,” Lance replied vigorously, “the armchairs.”

“The armchairs?” Keith asked him skeptically. Shiro even put down his fork.

“Yes, look at this one,” he pointed at the armchair near the breakfast buffet, “we had the same chair in our room. Seriously Keith, who ever sits on hotel furniture? It’s never comfortable. Look,” he said and - to everyone’s awkward surprise - got up and sat down in the chair next to the table with the buffet’s dishware.

“It’s weirdly round in the back,” he shuffled around, “but also feels angularly shaped when I lean back which should contradict itself but it doesn’t.” He threw his legs over the armrest but quickly took them back down on the ground. “Nope. This won’t work.”

He got up and sat down back in his chair at their table.

“Look. This is a chair one is supposed to sit in. It has proper armrests,” he bumped his elbows down on them, “and it doesn’t want to kill me or my family. There’s only functional and comfy furniture in la casa del McClain. So, I hereby criticize the armchairs.”

“I didn’t know chairs was such a passionate topic for you,” Keith remarked.

“Well, I think it’s important to-- oh you’re making fun of me, I see,” Lance huffed and crossed his arms, not looking angry at all. Keith smiled and that’s all he could have asked for.

“Thanks for your expertise,” Adam chuckled, “they might not have the best armchairs but they do know who to put on a decent breakfast buffet.”

Lance took a bite of his omelet.

“That is indeed a good egg, Adam,” he said and Keith almost died choking on his coffee.

“Are you okay, Keith?” Shiro asked worriedly.

“Ah, he’s fine,” Lance said cheerily and clapped him on the back.

“Yeah, just, got coffee in the wrong pipe,” Keith said with a hoarse voice.

A few minutes later the energy of the people in the room shifted. There was a constant anxious mumble, some people got up and left in a hurry, others walked up to the TV nearby.

“What’s going on?” Adam asked the bypassing waiter whose eyes were fixed on the TV as well.

“The storm, it got worse. Something has just manifested a couple of miles outside on the ocean. Some kind of tornado or hurricane, I think. They’re not sure if it will actually hit the land, right now it’s not that likely. But better get away from the coast as far as possible.”

The TV showed some short scenes of a coastal town with high waves hitting on a beach, branches from trees blocking streets and a lighthouse in the background.

“Arcadia Bay,” Shiro said to himself.

“Yeah, that was the name of the town that’s most in danger,” the waiter confirmed. “People are supposed to leave.”

“We better head out,” Shiro said to them, “if they evacuate, I wanna help.”

“Let’s go,” Adam agreed.

~~

The local radio stations only talked about the upcoming tornado outside Oregon’s coast. The way the cyclone would take couldn’t be predicted since it was too unusual, the behavior and development yet unseen. It was called an anomaly, probably caused by climate change.

Adam drove the car while Shiro was busy making phone call after phone call.

“Alright, I’ll meet with the evacuation team in Tillamook,” he said to Adam after he had talked to his friends at the fire station, “you and the boys stay there. Or even better, you head back to Portland. They say it’s worse than shown on TV.”

“No way,” Adam said and took his hand, “I’m coming with you.”

“I’m not gonna stay back,” Lance declared loudly. “My friends are still there.”

“There’s nothing for you to do, Lance,” Shiro said, “you and Keith both.”

Keith took Lance’s hand and shook his head at him, a non-verbal command to stop talking. Lance shut up. After two exhausting weeks Keith was finally safe but now the fate of Arcadia Bay was at stake. And the fate of his friends and every other inhabitant. Adam stopped the car at a gas station and looked back at Lance and Keith.

“Take the car and turn around. Listen to the news, get away from the coast. Here,” he gave them a credit card, “take a hotel room somewhere and let us know where you are.”

Shiro waved at a group of people standing next to a firetruck on the other side of the gas station.

“We gotta go,” he said, “stay safe.” He looked at Keith. “Be smart.”

“So just the opposite of whatever you’re doing,” he replied angrily. “How can you--”

“Keith,” Shiro said strictly, “I need to help.”

He didn’t elaborate on that but they stared at each other for a long moment. Then Keith exhaled loudly and dropped his gaze.

“Please come back home,” he said quietly, “both of you.”

“We will.”

Lance looked at Shiro and Keith. He could see in their eyes that home was wherever the other was.

After they had left, Keith sat in the driver’s seat, Lance next to him.

“I can’t go back, I have to get to Pidge and Hunk,” Lance stated simply.

“I know,” Keith said and hit the gas pedal, “I know a shortcut.”

 

“Keith,” Lance said with a questioning look after they had left the gas station, “there is no shortcut to Arcadia Bay.”

Keith gave him a quick glance.

“Just wanted to say something optimistic.”

Not for the first time, Lance asked himself how he could deserve the affection of this young man next to him. After all the misunderstandings, loss of contact and huge fights. And the dying, oh God, so much dying. After all the crap that had happened to him, no, to both of them, they had gotten back together.

Sure, It wasn’t over yet, not with the upcoming storm, but he was glad they were together now. No matter what the near future might bring.

~~

“I can’t get through, the phone lines are down. Or satellites? I don't know how phones work! There’s just no signal!”

They drove along the road in Arcadia Bay’s direction. It was still a couple of miles until they would arrive and Lance kept trying to call Pidge and Hunk.

“I’m sure they’re safe,” Keith said nervously, “Blackwell Academy is up the hill.”

Small branches kept falling down on the ceiling and windshield of the car. The wind was strong, the wooded area didn’t shield much. The closer they got to the coast, the harder it rained. They could barely see a thing and Keith had to drive slower than he had liked.  
Sometimes cars passed by, driving back to Portland. Not a single car headed the way they did, not even firetrucks. Everyone fled from the storm. At the last intersection, one mile before Arcadia Bay their car rapidly came to a stop.

“Shit,” Lance hissed.

The street into town was blocked by a huge tree that had fallen on the road. Keith looked in the other direction.

“On the next intersection, there’s another way up to the lighthouse. It brings us closer to the coast but there are fewer trees.”

He gave Lance a questioning look. Lance nodded automatically.

“You're right. We just drive across the parking lot and we’re back on the right street into town.”

This way they would have bypassed the blocked street. Keith turned the car around and their drive went on.

“Did you see this?” Lance exclaimed suddenly.

“What?” Keith asked, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

“Nothing. I hope,” Lance said.

What he had seen had been way too unreal. He hoped his mind had only played a trick on him.  
Otherwise.  
He shook his head.  
It couldn’t be.

When they arrived on the parking lot, the view to the ocean was less blocked.

“Keith,” Lance said cautiously, not quite sure if his eyes had betrayed him again or if it had been real. “Pull over.”

“Why? We’re almost--”

“Just, stop right now,” Lance shouted.

Keith braked hard. They were in the middle of the parking lot, not another soul in sight. Quickly Lance got out.

“Shit, Lance!” Keith yelled but Lance was already on the way up the hill towards the lighthouse. He had to see it with his own eyes. He heard Keith cursing as he was following him.

This could not be.  
Lance stood behind the bench Keith and him had sit two weeks ago.  
Now the picture was a different one.  
The Pacific Ocean fought the fight of its life. The wind pulled and pushed the water in different directions, waves crashed against the rocks of the cliff with a cracking sound.  
Keith arrived next to Lance.

“Shit,” he hissed.

Arcadia Bay’s beach was completely flooded, the parking lot as well. The street with the Two Whales would be next. The roofs of various houses were gone or destroyed. Cars had been turned around. They could see some fires burning in the city. Some power lines hang low and electricity flashed dangerously at their cut ends, ready to set new fires every second.

Portland’s sky had been gray but Arcadia Bay was covered with a grayness that crawled into their heart and soul. 

“Keith, look at this,” Lance shouted.

A tornado was making its way from the ocean towards the coast.  
Keith took his hand. For a brief moment they just stared at the monstrous spiral that was about to bring the town’s final destruction.

“I think we did this,” Lance said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Us, messing with time and space. Pidge told me there might be consequences. You ever heard of the butterfly effect?”

“You mean chaos theory?”

“It sure is chaotic right now.”

“No,” Keith said, “I know what you mean. A lot of things can influence the weather, even the wind from the wings of a butterfly. And what we did isn’t even comparable to a butterfly.”

A tree close to the cliff just got ripped off by the wind and crashed down into the water. They shielded their faces with their arms for a moment. Although the wind was strong, they managed to stay in place.

“Lance, we gotta do something. Or this town will get destroyed. Shiro and Adam are somewhere out there.” The panic in Keith’s voice was undeniable.

“But what can we possibly do? There’s nothing. If we have caused this storm, we will only make it worse. You can only turn back time for some moments and I can only do it to protect you. This fucking superpower is absolutely useless!”

Keith looked at him.

“But this time we don’t have to do it by ourselves. Maybe if we try hard enough, if we do it together, then maybe...”

“What?” Lance shouted at him.

“Maybe we will be able to reverse time long enough to stop anything from happening. If we undo everything before we screwed up time and space so massively, then maybe we can save this town.”

And suddenly Lance realized what Keith meant.

“No way, no fucking way!”

“Lance, this is the only way,” Keith shouted through the loud noise of the storm, “just take it.” He pressed the tiny red toy lion into Lance’s hand. “Focus and change everything right back before you gave it to me. All that would take for me is to...you know.”

Heavy rain poured down on them and suddenly it was freezing cold.

Leaves and small twigs flew wildly through the air. The surrounding trees leaned in the wind, desperately clinging their roots into the deep earth.

“No, Keith, I can’t--” Lance stammered.

“I’m already living on borrowed time. Extra time you have given me. Look at what’s happening in Arcadia Bay. Just because you saved me. Those people don’t deserve to die. Think of Pidge and Hunk. And Shiro and Adam.” With determination he looked Lance in the eyes. “It’s time to let go of this burden. Let me go. Once and for all.”

Lance took a step closer to his friend, his hand clutching the little lion so hard it hurt.

“Keith, I can’t lose you again. I-- I am in love with you.” His voice cracked at the end of the sentence and the words he had meant to confess him quietly one day got almost drowned by the storm’s roar. The universe had granted them one day before the storm, one night with Keith in his arms, and it hadn’t been enough, not nearly enough.

“And I am in love with you,” Keith said, his voice shaking as much as Lance’s. “A part of me never stopped being in love with you since I was thirteen. And I am grateful for every second we have spent together, now and back when we were young. You saved me more than in one way, Lance. But now it’s time to let go, for both of us. I was never meant to be saved the day we met again and I accept my fate.”

The ground moved and with an ear-shattering sound, a part of the cliff broke away close to where the two young men stood. With a quick move Keith grabbed Lance’s wrist and pushed him closer to the lighthouse and away from the deadly cliff.

“Keith.”

“Lance.” He put both hands on the other’s shoulders, softly pressing him against the lighthouse like he wanted to protect him from the storm. “You returned to me last month and you did nothing but show me how much you cared about me.” He averted his eyes for a second. “Next to my mother and later Shiro no one has ever made me feel safe. But you do. You always did. More than anyone else. You made me smile and laugh like I haven’t done in years. You made me the happiest person I’ve ever been.”

The world around them slowly but steadily fell into pieces and Keith smiled sadly.

“Wherever I end up after this, in whatever reality or nothingness, all those moments between us were real and they’ll always be ours.”

He took a deep breath and leaned his forehead against Lance’s.

“I know you’ll make the right decision,” he said firmly.

“But I can’t make this decision on my own,” Lance said, his voice barely audible. Tears streamed down his face.

Keith didn’t cry and Lance knew that he pulled himself together for both of them.

“You won’t have to,” Keith said and closed his eyes, “I am with you.”

Suddenly the ground beneath them shifted again, this time more violently. Their eyes locked and they both knew that the cliff was about to collapse any second now.

Keith softly took his hands in his.

 

“Lance. It’s time.”

 

**Everything went white.**

 

It was a calm dark night.  
The stars sparkled in the sky above them.

“Did you see this?” Lance asked and turned to Keith.

The thirteen-year-old boys lay next to each other on the grass in the dark garden, looking up in the sky. The earth beneath them was still warm although the end of summer had finally come.

“No, what?” Keith asked.

“There was this thing that looked like a spaceship lion.”

Keith chuckled.

“I don’t think so.”

Lance shrugged.

“Could have been, though.”

The back porch door to the living room was ajar. Lance’s parents and older siblings were busy checking the house again and loading the cabs. His father loudly checked the documents for their flight to Cuba later that night. Lance tried to ignore the voices. They would find him soon enough.

“Have you ever seen the Andromeda galaxy?” Keith asked.

“What’s that?”

“The only galaxy that can be seen with one’s own eyes. You don’t even need binoculars.”

“A galaxy? You mean like the milky way?”

“Yes!”

“Where?”

“Over there. Under Cassiopeia.”

“I don’t see it.”

Keith turned his face to him.

“I’ll show you.”

He skidded closer to Lance.  
Keith took his hand and directed it at a point in the sky above them.  
Lance leaned his head against Keith’s.

“Where?” he breathed curiously.

“See this star? See the other star above it? Add the same distance. There’s the galaxy.”

Lance focused on the spot Keith’s and his hand were pointing at.  
Then he saw it.  
It was a blurry little spot in the sky. Easy to miss when one didn’t look properly.

“It’s so small,” he said, almost a little disappointed.

He dropped his hand with Keith still holding it.

“It’s huge, Lancey. Billions of stars. And one day they will collide, our galaxy and this one.”

“That sounds really scary,” Lance whispered.

“It sure is. A lot will shift, a lot will change. But you know what happens then?”

“What?”

Keith squeezed his hand.

“They will become one giant super galaxy. With more stars than you can imagine. The sky will be full of stars, all bright and sparkly. Maybe we will even have two moons.”

“Two moons would be pretty amazing.”

They fell silent.

Lance’s mother had started calling for him.  
Lance didn’t move.

“LANCE! Where is this boy? LANCE! WE GOTTA GO! SAY GOODBYE TO KEITH!”

“Lance?”

“Shht or she’ll find us.”

Keith turned his head around to look at him.

“Lance.”

“Yes?”

Lance kept staring at the sky above them.  
Keith waited.  
But Lance kept staring.

“I don’t want you to go.”

“Me neither,” Lance said strangely quiet.

“LANCE! KEITH!”

“Lance.”

“SON!”

“I mean it.”

“WE WILL BE LATE!”

“I, I wanted to tell you something,” Keith stammered.

“LAAAANCE!”

“I have to go,” Lance said blankly and quickly sat up. “Why do I have to go?” he asked as he had only just realized what was about to happen.

“VERONICA, CHECK UPSTAIRS.”

Keith sat up next to him, still holding his hand.

“Lance, please.”

“There you are, I FOUND THEM!”

Lance and Keith got up and turned around.

“Mis hijos, I’m so sorry but we need to go,” Lance’s mother said with a sympathetic smile. “The cabs are waiting outside.”

Veronica appeared in the door frame next to her.

“Give them another minute,” she said and pulled her mother back inside. “We’ll be at the cabs, boys.” Her smile was sad.

Keith took the little red lion out of his pocket.  
Carefully he put it into Lance’s open hand and closed it with his fingers.  
Then he looked him into the eyes.

“You will always be my best friend.”

“And you will always be my best friend.”

He gave Keith his blue lion.  
Slowly they walked out of the garden door to the street in front of the house Lance had lived all his life.  
The cabs were packed with their luggage, his family waited for him.

Everyone hugged Keith. First Lance’s mother, then his father, then his siblings, Veronica last.  
She hugged Keith longer than anybody else before her.  
When she withdrew she was crying. And Keith, too.  
The family started to get into the cabs.

“Lance. It’s time,” his mother said and took her seat.

“Keith,” Lance said quietly. “What did you want to tell me?”

Keith stared at him for some seconds.  
Then he put his arms around him and Lance pulled him closer in one smooth move.  
They didn’t say anything.  
They just hugged each other as if it were the end of the world. It probably was.  
They hugged so long that Lance’s mother had to shout for Lance again.  
Lance slowly leaned back but Keith grabbed his wrists.

“I miss you,” Keith said, crying.

Lance was crying as well.

“I miss you, too.”

Then Keith leaned forward and kissed Lance on his cheek.

 

“LANCE!” he heard his father shout, “STOP THAT NONSENSE!”

 

Lance ignored his father and pressed a kiss on Keith’s cheek as well.

“Thank you for showing me another universe.”

For a long second Keith just stared at him. Then he put his tongue between his teeth and smirked through his sadness.

“It’s a galaxy. Use the right words,” he whispered out of breath.

Lance’s eyes started to glint and he smiled at his friend despite the tears streaming down his face.

“No,” Lance said and put his hands on his friend’s shoulders, “you are the universe.”

Keith dived forward and hugged him again, a desperate and forceful hug which almost threw Lance off his feet.

“Promise me,” Keith whispered into his ear, “next time we will meet, we will collide and become a super universe.”

“I promise.”

 

“LANCE! COME ON!”

 

“Goodbye, Kogane.”

“Goodbye, McClain.”

 

**And**

**everything**

**went**

**white.**

 

Sudden silence.

Lance’s eyes were closed.  
The noise of the storm was gone.  
No wind pressing against his face.  
The air carried the distant cry of seagulls.  
The soothing sound of waves consistently crashing against the cliff.  
Slowly Lance opened his eyes. 

The first thing he saw was Keith’s dark eyes.

Keith.

His hand softly touched his cheek, his fingers carefully stroke his face.

“Is this real?” Lance whispered. “Are you real?”

Keith took his hand and kissed it.  
Tears streamed down his face. 

“It is,” he breathed, “I am.” 

Keith looked to the side and Lance’s eyes followed him. He was still leaning against the lighthouse on the cliff. But everything around them was orange. So much orange, the orange of a perfect autumn day. They shared a curious look, took each other's hand and walked closer to the cliff.

On the horizon was the most beautiful colorful sunset they had ever seen. It was a watercolor painting custom-made by the universe. The soft and tired yellow of the evening sun turned the horizon orange and red. Small clouds shimmered cotton-candy pink and made the sky appear blue and violet. Little dust particles got caught by the golden rays of the sun and danced around them like little stars. The light made their cheeks tickle.

The tornado was gone.  
The storm was gone.  
The rain was gone.  
The damage was gone.

All that was left was two young men standing side by side on the cliff by the lighthouse.  
In the moment they were born the universe had decided to let them share the same world.  
Years later coincidence had brought them together.  
It was life who had brought them apart.  
And it was their memories that kept them close.  
And when they didn’t find a way back together they asked the universe for help.  
And the universe answered.  
It had shaken time and space to fix what two boys once had promised each other.  
Now their future was back in their hands.

Figuratively and literally.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [instrumental piano cover version of 'where is my mind' softly playing in distance]


	11. Hero Is His Middle Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't ask me about the inspiration for the chapter title.

###  **Hero Is His Middle Name**

 

The October had been kind when it came to weather.  
Well, except the storm and the tornado two weeks back.

Thankfully the storm had dissolved as sudden as it had appeared. Everyone who had claimed severe damage had been done had been proven wrong. It had looked bad, sure, but in the end no one had gotten hurt, no cliff had broken away, no water had flooded the diner and the city center. After all it just had -- rained a lot. With a lot of wind.  
The town people had overreacted, that was the explanation. And no one really cared about some weather phenomenon in a small coastal town in Oregon anyway.

This day, October 23rd, the temperature was chilly but the sky was blue and cloudless. The school had decided to build the stage for the fundraising festival outside on Blackwell’s campus to have more space. The college students mostly gathered around the area that provided refreshments and snacks. Attendance was obligatory so obviously no one enjoyed it.

Lance kept glancing over the crowd to look at the parking lot.

“He will come,” Pidge told him, “it probably takes a while to sign all these papers.”

“Why couldn’t it wait until tomorrow?” Lance whined.

The upcoming finale of the contest made him nervous and he’d feel a lot better if Keith had already been around.

“It has to happen on his 20th birthday, you know that”, Pidge said, “and it’s a good time to introduce himself to the town.”

“I know,” Lance sighed.

He let his gaze wander around the audience. Next to the students and the families of some commuting students, there were also a lot of people Lance hadn’t seen before, except maybe on pictures of the local newspaper. Rich looking people. People that radiated the word ‘influence’ and ‘power’. Were this the kind of people Keith would be surrounded with in the future? And where would that leave him, Lance? He didn’t even know what the future would hold for him. His backup plan had always been to work in his parent’s hotel if he didn’t find another job he liked to do. Lance shook his head. Thoughts for another day.

There were also other people from Arcadia Bay. A lot of firefighters and people from non-profit and charitable institutions. He saw Shay with the owners of the Two Whales. He recognized some people from other important families in Arcadia Bay, workers, supermarket owners, some fishermen he used to see down on the beach.

Last year the fundraising festival hadn’t been that well attended, Lance remembered. But now everyone wanted to meet the new owner and heir of the biggest foundation of the area. Which explained the number of journalists and photographers, some of them had even arrived from Portland.

There was a grumble in the background. Lance turned around. Of course. He saw Keith’s motorcycle driving up the road until it stopped in the school’s parking lot. Lance walked towards him until he stood on top of the staircase next to the bushes he had pushed his friends into weeks ago. Time was a weird thing.

“Hey,” Lance shouted down at him, “I thought you’re not allowed on school property.”

Keith took off his helmet, the bangs of his hair falling down on his forehead.

“Shit, I better leave before Shiro sees me,” he said, “wanna elope with me?”

"Immediately."

They broke out in a wide smile. 

Lance walked down to him, a gift-wrapped box in his hand and let his eyes drift over Keith. Instead of his usual style, mostly ripped jeans and a dark shirt, he wore a pair of good-looking jeans, a red shirt and a black blazer.

“Wow,” Lance said and put a hand on his chest, “you look-”

“Weird, I know. Adam insisted that I wear something, well, more formal. He even wanted to make me take the car but I said, nope, I’ll take my bike. I don’t want them to see me as another Galra, I really don’t. The Galra family emblem is purple so Adam said I should wear a different color. Obviously I chose red, right? It’s not bad, is it? Never mind, I’m here now.”

Lance grinned.

“I just wanted to give you a compliment but nice rambling. I get it, you’re nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” Keith said nervously.

Lance laughed.

“Sure. And Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“Happy birthday.” He gave him the gift box. 

With curious eyes Keith opened it. Then he laughed.

"Oh, I forgot about it." He took out a second helmet for his bike.

"I hope the color is alright," Lance said and bit his lip.

Keith beamed at him.  
"Blue is perfect, thank you, Lance."

Lance wanted to kiss him but they had decided to turn down the display of affection at this important event to an absolute minimum. (Although they hadn’t established the definition of said minimum yet and Lance was determined to ask Keith about it. Later. In a dark corner.)

This day was Keith’s introduction to Arcadia Bay as the heir of the Galra foundation. He and Adam had been working on the papers, the change of organization and everything that came with it for the last week. It had been stressful but necessary. Keith had wanted to change as much as possible to give Arcadia Bay back to the people. 

Lotor was gone, probably living with his uncle in New York. Although life had played him hard, he had sent Keith a letter to congratulate him and had given him some kind words about the recent events involving his family. He'd been the only Galra who hadn't been involved in this mess. Lotor sure had lost the foundation but still had a huge ass trust fund to live from. His mother Haggar and father were under arrest, the investigation still ongoing. They hadn’t heard anything about Acxa but they assumed she was in prison by now.

“Why is everybody staring at me?” Keith asked with a furrowed brow when they walked towards the campus.

“Because you’re gorgeous,” Lance whispered.

It was true, Keith attracted everyone’s attention. Thankfully Shiro and Adam had arrived by now and waited for him next to the stage.

“You’re gonna do great, Keith,” Lance said and squeezed his hand quickly. Then he went into the crowd to find Pidge and Hunk.

“Welcome to the annual fundraising event of Blackwell Academy!” Allura said through the microphone and received loud applause.

“I think we can all agree that we had a troublesome year. The unexpected wildfire in May that destroyed more than 30,000 acres within 2 weeks. Thanks to our firefighters and a lot of volunteer helpers the fire could be contained. Although no one died there have been some great injuries.”

Lance’s and most of the student’s eyes flickered to Shiro. It wasn’t a secret that he had been the one with the worst injury caused by the fire's destruction. Shiro didn’t mind being stared at and softly patted a pale looking Keith’s back. Allura kept telling some wholesome firefighter stories, presented new equipment with their captain and gave other non-profit organizations a warm shout out. Then there was a short break and everyone knew what was about to come next. 

“There’s no sugar coating to begin the next topic,” Allura announced with a more formal voice, “the continuation of the Galra foundation." She paused. "I don’t think this is the time or place to talk about the recent events but to take a look at the future.”

The journalists and photographers in the first few rows got ready.

“I have the honor to present you the young heir of the foundation, Mr. Keith Kogane.”

The crowd applauded, Lance, Pidge and Hunk the loudest, as Keith walked up the stage. The rich people eyed him cautiously, not knowing if this change would benefit or destroy them.

“Hello everyone,” Keith said into the microphone and smiled politely, “and thank you for the introduction, Allura.”

Lance just thought he looked absolutely stunning and Pidge smacked his hands as he wanted to applaud again.

“As you can imagine I had quite a few stressful weeks.”

The audience broke into soft laughter. Lance looked around. The tension of the crowd was gone. It had been his idea to start the speech with a self-deprecating joke to lighten the mood. The town people already smiled fondly at Keith. The rich people not so much. The students were curious.

“I don’t want to bore you with the reorganization process the foundation is going through,” he said, his voice calm and steady. Lance already knew the speech by heart. Keith had rehearsed it the night before until Lance had started throwing pillows at him to make him stop.

“But the rumors are true: The Galra foundation doesn’t exist anymore.” There was a mumble in the crowd. “I can’t deny my blood, otherwise I wouldn’t be here, but I am no Galra.”

Blunt words. Adam had told him to skip this part but Keith had insisted. He wanted them to know, to really know.

“Zarkon is my biological father and I accept the heritage but that’s the only connection.” He took a breath. “I am a Kogane. For now the foundation will hold the name Kogane foundation until the organization process has come to an end. I know everybody wants to know where the money will go, what kind of projects it will support and so on.” He looked briefly at the rich people. “To be honest, I don’t know yet. I want to help Arcadia Bay back to the independence it has lost in the last few years. I want to support so many social projects that I might spend all the money on them if my executive secretary doesn’t stop me.”

The audience laughed again. Lance’s cheeks flushed with happiness. They liked him. How couldn't they.

“That’s Adam W-- ah, just call him Adam for now, he might change his last name in the near future and I don’t want to confuse you. Adam, please come up.”

Adam walked up the stairs on stage and they both talked about the future of the foundation together.

Meanwhile Lance waved at Shiro to get his attention. Then he held up a hand and pointed at his ring finger with a questioning look. Shiro grinned, shrugged, then glanced briefly at Adam, looked back to Lance and nodded happily. Lance gave him a thumbs-up and a smile. A lot of bad things had happened this month but there was always something good following close behind.

There was applause again and Adam left the stage.

“Thank you everyone for the warm welcome.” Then Keith's eyes searched the crowd. “And I want to thank everyone who’s been with me during the last years and especially the last weeks.” He found Lance, Hunk and Pidge in the crowd and smiled at them. Then he looked back at Adam and Shiro. “And now I think Allura is ready to announce the winner for the contest!”

Another applause and Allura got back on stage. Keith only took a step back when she took over the microphone  

“Thank you, Keith. And if I might add some personal words: I think Arcadia Bay is very lucky to have you in this position. I am sure your organization will have a bright future and will take our town with it.”

The town people started clapping again, the students joined. Most of the rich people had already left the campus. A lot had changed and even more would change in the future, Lance thought. Not everyone welcomed change. He looked at the few rich people who had stayed and applauded as well, mostly younger people, maybe in their thirties or forties. But there were always those who wanted a change, he thought. A change from old power structures that benefited only a handful of people. And sometimes all it needed was some good and kind people in the right positions to turn the wheel in a different direction.

Lance’s thoughts got cut short by Allura’s next announcement.

“Now I have another honor,” she said and turned towards the students, “the honor to present you the winner of this year’s contest. The topic was ‘Submit a photo or a story that best represents yourself or others in heroic actions’. We had some great entries this year and I am proud of every one of you.” 

She pulled up an envelope and opened it.

“This year’s winner of the annual contest is… Lance McClain!”

The crowd broke out in applause.  
Pidge and Hunk cheered loudly into his ears. To be honest, Lance had already known that the probability for him to win had been very high. Keith had told him that the night before, also because he knew how anxious Lance had been. Nevertheless Lance blushed lightly and moved forward until he was on the stage. Keith was standing next to Allura and pressed his lips together in a desperate attempt not to grin like the Cheshire cat. Slowly Lance walked up to the microphone. 

“Well, I am as shocked as you are,” he said and the audience laughed delightfully. “I wanna thank the academy,” he glanced at Allura and Keith, especially at Keith, “and my fans of course,” - Pidge and Hunk whooped in the crowd - “and, the universe, I guess.”

He took out some presentations cards (with little doodles next to the text) out of the pocket of his jeans.

“Someone told me I was quite good at rambling but I wanna point out that I actually thought about what I want to say. At least this time.” Some students laughed.

He coughed. 

“Believe it or not I learned quite a few things about being a hero. What it means to have the ability to save someone, someone’s life even. And let me tell you, it is fucking scary. Sorry, am I allowed to curse? One time? Thanks. Most of the time I just wanted it to stop, to not be in the situation where I had to make these responsible decisions.

Being a hero is often associated with having superpowers. But a superpower doesn’t make someone a hero. A hero is someone who acts like a hero within his capabilities.

I know a hero.  
Most of us do.  
Mrs. Altea told me that everyone does heroic things every single day. But what this contest is really about is to capture it. She said it was the timing that matters. Well, it's quite difficult to find one single moment if someone is a hero 24/7." He pointed at the t-shirt he was wearing. "So I'm wearing this shirt today - it says 'everyday hero' in case you can't read it from the back - , I'm wearing it because the person I am talking about is exactly this." Suddenly he got a bit nervous. He took a deep breath. "The hero I want to tell you about is Takashi Shirogane.”

Everyone who knew Shiro looked at him. He was still standing next to the stage with Adam by his side. The mentioning of his name had taken him by surprise. Lance had checked in with both Adam and Keith if it was alright for him to talk about Shiro and both of them had given him his blessing and support. Now Lance just hoped Shiro would be alright with it, too. 

“Most of you probably know him as Blackwell’s security guard. I’ve always considered him one of the good ones in this town, a good egg." He looked at Keith who guffawed, quickly pressed his hands over his mouth and turned around to hide his restrained laughter. "Last year I had a, um, bad day and Shiro, that’s his nickname, Shiro sneaked us in some delivery food which was prohibited at that time. Mr. Iverson, please don’t hold it against us, because it meant a lot to me. It was a small gesture for someone having a rough time. 

Last May the wildfire took over the forests around Arcadia Bay. Shiro was one of the volunteers who did their mighty best to help with the firefighting operations, evacuations and supported the park rangers. Sadly there was an accident and Shiro got hurt pretty badly.” 

Lance glanced at Shiro. He listened attentively. Alright so far. 

“And insurance sucks, am I right? So another hero who I shall not name helped him to cover the medical costs. See, heroes are everywhere. And now Shiro is back at Blackwell and I think every one of us students is glad about it, holler if I'm right!”

The students in the back gave Shiro very loud applause with a lot of whistling and whoohoo's. He looked shyly at the ground but he smiled.

“But if we go back in time, Shiro had another job. He worked for a local institution for teenagers in supervised living. That institution had to close about two years ago because it had lost its funding. One of the teenagers there was no one else than Keith Kogane.”

He smiled at Keith.

“And Keith wasn’t the only one Shiro helped there. Keith, I mean, Mr. Kogane? I guess? Eh, anyway, he told me a lot about Shiro’s work back there and if I had to repeat all the good things he did, we would be freezing our asses off until New Year’s Eve.”

“MR. MCCLAIN!”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to say asses. Whoops, again.”

Mr. Iverson shook his head in disappointment but let him talk.

“I got to know Shiro a lot more in the last few weeks because we, eh, have a mutual friend. And he’s in private as heroic as I just told you. In the little things, like being an exceptional support for his family, or the big things, like saving people from a fire or from shooters on campus. And the extraordinary thing is that the urge and will to help comes naturally to him. Maybe even to a fault.” 

Lance looked in his direction. Adam smiled at Shiro in a way as if this was the topic of an all too frequent conversation between them. Shiro just shrugged apologetically.  
Lance's heart fluttered as he remembered that they actually had gotten engaged. 

“I know this hasn’t exactly been one heroic action I described but it’s really hard to pick one if you’re Takashi Shirogane. Thanks for being awesome, Shiro." He pointed with his arm at him. "People like you should get more recognition. Without you, a lot would collapse, in the small and in the big. Okay, that was my last card. I suck at endings, so, um, thanks.”

Lance grinned as he received wild applause from the crowd and took an exaggerated deep bow. Then he looked at Shiro and Adam. Shiro had tears in his eyes and mouthed ‘thank you’ at him. Adam kissed him briefly on his cheek. Then he looked around to Keith who smiled at him. It had been Lance’s idea to pick Shiro but Keith had helped him with the notes for his project. In the end it had been dear to both of them.

“There are more things I admire Shiro for,” Lance suddenly added out of the blue, “things that make him a hero for me and a lot more people. Like, loving the people you love and living the life you want to live, the life you need to live because it’s the right one, no matter what some people might say. And, yeah, anyway, that’s important to me because we all should be able to be who we are without having to be afraid. Okay, eh, that’s it, for real now.”

There was another short but slightly confused applause and Lance stumbled back off stage.

“Thank you for these kind words, Lance,” Allura said warmly, “now I will give everyone the opportunity to make some donations, here a quick reminder of how it works.”

She kept talking but Lance didn’t listen anymore.

He was glad his speech was over and went so well but he also felt weird. He hadn’t meant to improvise the additional part but it had just blurted out of him. Maybe he just needed some water, he told himself. He hurried back to the tables with refreshments and grabbed a cup of water before Pidge and Hunk pulled him far away from the crowd.

“Dude,” Pidge said cautiously, “you do know that your last few lines could be interpreted as a coming-out in front of the school and Arcadia Bay, right?”

“Wha-what?” Lance said. He took a sip of water and pressed a finger at his chin. “No way, I would have known if I had done this.”

He would have known, he was pretty sure. He had just said some nice words.

“Lance, buddy, my friend,” Hunk said and put an arm around Lance’s shoulder, “do you even remember what you said?”

“Well, something nice about Shiro.”

“Your memory astonishes me.”

A few seconds later Keith was at his side.

“Lance,” he said slowly, “that last part, that wasn’t part of your speech.”

Lance sighed. “I didn’t come out, okay, I just said nice words! Didn’t I?”

Keith chuckled but eyed him strangely.

“Do you want me to lie?”

“Yes.”

“You said nice words.”

“Okay, don’t lie.”

“No one would have been surprised if you had kissed me before you left the stage.”

Lance grunted. He hadn’t meant to do that. Well, kissing Keith on stage: that would have been nice. Coming out: Not so much.

But apparently he had done it. Somehow. Because. He was bisexual and in love with his best friend. And because he had looked at Adam and Shiro who had just gotten engaged. So, okay, maybe a part of him just wanted to get it over with and be with Keith like Shiro was with Adam. They made it look so simple. Even though it probably wasn’t that simple all the time. But for the last few seconds on stage, he had pretended it was just like that. Because loving Keith was indeed the easiest thing. In every universe.

“Hunk, please hug me.”

“You got it, buddy.”

“Group hug,” Pidge yelled, pulled Keith with them and they all hugged Lance.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the rumors are true. keith is iron man.  
> *pushes lance from stage* look at my sONS, PRIDE IS NOT THE WORD I'M LOOKING FOR, there is so much more inside me now /leaves stage crying
> 
> important:  
> DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY ADAM NOT HAVING A CANON LAST NAME STRESSES ME THE FUCK OUT? back in portland he wasn't even able to book a room on his name, i HATE THIS. i had to cut out a check-in scene, and HEY congrats buddy, now you're engaged, DEAL WITH IT. *aggressively throws confetti*


	12. Epilogue or The World Will Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end, it's the end.

###  **Epilogue or The World Will Know**

 

“Okay. You’re sure you’re ready?” Keith asked.

“I think so, yes,” Lance said.

It was the first week of November and the two of them sat in their usual booth in the Two Whales. Lance’s phone lay in front of them between a cup of coffee and a hot chocolate.

“Okay.”

“I’m gonna press ‘send’ now.”

 

lance: hi veronica, how is new york?

veronica: baby brother! nice to hear from you. busy with the weddings plans :)

 

“I told you she’s always on her phone.”

 

veronica: how are you? how’s arcadia bay?

lance: i’m very good. i don’t know if mom told you who i ran into two months ago?

veronica: no who?

lance: keith

veronica: NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW IS HE DOING? did you talk? are you friends? again...?

lance: he’s doing good too. In fact he sits right next to me right now

veronica: OMG! SAY HI FROM ME, can you ask him if we can exchange phone numbers, I wanna text him

lance: he says hi back

 

“Send her the picture, come on,” Keith urged him with excitement.

“Don’t rush me,” Lance said and scrolled through the picture gallery on his phone, “I need to find the right one where my hair looks tolerable."

 

lance: [picture sent]

 

It was a picture from the day of the fundraising festival. After Lance had calmed down after his pseudo-coming-out (he still wasn’t quite convinced it counted as one although some students had told him nice things the following days, ANYWAY) he and Keith had sat down on a bench on the other side of the campus, far away from the stage and talked.

Suddenly Lance had realized that they hadn’t taken a proper picture yet together. They took quite a few, goofing around. Lance’s favorite one was the picture where he kissed Keith on his cheek and Keith just smiled into the camera. That was the one he had just sent his sister.

 

veronica: omg

lance: that’s keith and me

veronica: I see that

veronica: what else do I see

veronica: ps. tell him he looks gorgeous

 

Lance took a deep breath.

 

lance: he’s my boyfriend

 

“Your hands are cold.”

“I always get cold hands when I’m scared, Keith. Why isn’t she answering?”

 

lance: still there…?

veronica: im cryingjs..,!!

lance: don’t cry pls or I will cry

veronica: I am so happy lance <3 <3

veronica: this family needed more gay people for diversity reasons

lance: actually I am bi

veronica: actually I love you lance

lance: love u two

lance: *too

 

Keith chuckled next to him.

“What?” Lance asked and put the phone away.

Keith leaned forward, looked him in the eyes and kissed him softly.

“I love you, too,” he whispered.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love veronica so much. also that typo in the end was an actually typo of me while typing and i just...turned it into this :D

**Author's Note:**

> *stares at wall*  
> it's over, i can't believe it.
> 
> EDIT I: my friend did some amazing art inspired by my fanfic and you need to see it! [here on insta](https://www.instagram.com/p/BpSatJaB34t/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet) and [here on insta as well](https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpm0783hY4I/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet) //// and also thank you for all the nice comments <3 I don't think a lot of people will find their way here but if you did: yay!! 
> 
> it all started with me scribbling "klance life is strange au?" on a post-it at work and then this happened.  
> this story turned out so much different and bigger than i originally intended it to be but here we are.  
> thank you so much for reading it. this story is very close to my heart and i loved spending my days in arcadia bay. so i really hope you liked it, too. i'm always happy about kudos/comments, here or on my tumblr (worstmissionever.tumblr.com - though i am not very active, sorry).
> 
> if someone from twitter reads this: thanks for enduring my daily ten thousand tweets about my writing issues and me complaining about adam's non-existent last name. i promised you a party in case his full last name gets revealed and i will hold onto it forever.  
> hashtag timey-wimey.
> 
> EDIT II: This story is now part of a series: the sequel is a work in progress to overcome my fear of publishing right after writing a chapter. You're very welcome to read on if you like. It features Keith's point of view when he and Lance visit the McClain's in Cuba for Christmas - and hopefully Lance's coming out.


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